


Half Human

by Pey119



Series: ongoing [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, RIORDAN Rick - Works, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Gods (Percy Jackson), Attempted Murder, BAMF Nico di Angelo, Beheading, Blood and Gore, Brutal Murder, Cannibalism, Canonical Character Death, Coffee Shops, Eventual Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Eventual Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Eventual Piper McLean/Jason Grace, F/M, Fights, Flashbacks, Gabe Ugliano Being an Asshole, Ghoul!Leo, Ghouls, Half-Human, Hurt Nico di Angelo, Inspired by Tokyo Ghoul, Kidnapping, M/M, Masks, Minor Character Death, Nico Feels, Nico di Angelo and Will Solace are Cute, Orphans, Past Relationship(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Nico, Protective Will Solace, Stabbing, Starvation, Waiters & Waitresses, Worldbuilding, bryce is a manipulative piece of shit, death of the innocent, except jason he's alive, ghoul!nico, ghoul!piper, investigator!annabeth, investigator!jason, investigator!percy, made orphan, past Nico/Dakota
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:55:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23583466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pey119/pseuds/Pey119
Summary: ~Plot taken from the anime Tokyo Ghoul, but NOT a crossover~Will Solace is your everyday college student at NYU. His best friend is Cecil Markowitz, his favorite burger is Burger King, and he's got a crush on a boy he doesn't even know the name of.But first dates go wrong all the damn time, and Will's left wondering if he's human anymore.Because ghouls exist. Human-eaters. And Will gets too close to their world.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Calypso/Leo Valdez, Cecil Markowitz & Will Solace, Clarisse La Rue/Chris Rodriguez, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Maria di Angelo/Hades, Nico di Angelo & Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Paul Blofis/Sally Jackson, Pluto (Percy Jackson)/Original Character(s)
Series: ongoing [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2124651
Comments: 21
Kudos: 73





	1. Tragedy

**Author's Note:**

> Happy quarantine days!! Here's the start of something I've had in mind for a long time.  
> Here's your warnings for the story:  
> lots of gore, like lots  
> torture at some point probably  
> cannibalism  
> language?  
> fight scenes eventually  
> blood blood blood  
> lots of death
> 
> Character Ages:  
> Nico: 17  
> Will: 19  
> Cecil: 19  
> Clarisse: 19  
> Chris: 19  
> Dakota: 20  
> Bryce: 19-20  
> Hazel: 13-14  
> Leo: 19-20  
> Piper: 20  
> Travis and Conner: 22-25  
> Percy: 24-25  
> Annabeth:24-25  
> Jason: 24-25
> 
> Other Notes:  
> Nico is from Italy, his backstory will be explained in time. Also, Apollo and Naomi are both dead, along with Maria and Hades. 
> 
> To those who have read/watched Tokyo Ghoul:  
> Things won't be as similar as I previously planned, and most characters won't be the same or have the same background or have the same character development, and some characters won't exist. The anime will just be a general structure for this story, especially as it goes on

Will Solace was the basic college kid, or so he thought. The lack of parents kind of changed that picture. But he was a freshman, and he had some friends, and Burger King was his favorite burger around. His life was almost peaceful for some time, that is, without the fear of all the ghoul attacks around.

Ghouls. They looked like regular humans if they wanted to. But they couldn't eat burgers, or salads, or anything like that. They ate flesh, preyed on humans, they did it to survive but were hunted by the CCG. Like said, if they wanted, they looked just like you and me. Impossible to spot. But their eyes could turn red, and the organs known as styx spread from their bodies in different specialized weapons. 

Some ate a lot. One was nicknamed Gourmet, while the other was Binge Eater. Sometimes twenty bodies found at once from a single ghoul, entire workplaces slaughtered.

It was a fear for everyone. But it was their everyday life.

"Will, earth to Will!" Cecil waved his hand in front of Will's face. "You still there?"

Will snapped back from his daydream and back into the coffee shop where he and Cecil had met up. It was cozy, small, barely any costumers. It was his get-away. "Sorry, just thinking."

Cecil Markowitz was also a freshman at NYU, with brown hair and mischievous green eyes. He had gotten into criminal trouble more times than Will could count, but he always found his way out. Theft, public disturbances. He was a real piece of work, but he was Will's best friend. 

"So, are you going to point him out?" Cecil asked.

Will felt his ears heat up. "Who?"

"You know who I mean." Cecil leaned forward. "So, where's your special guy friend?" His eyes widened as he saw the nearest waiter. "Is that him?"

Will glanced over at who Cecil thought would catch his attention. Will couldn't remember his name, but that waiter was working every time Will came in to 'Big House' coffee. Dark hair, even darker eyes, pale skin, long eyelashes for a guy. Younger than them. His cheekbones did give Will a hot stomach.

"No, that's not him," Will hissed. "Now, can you keep your voice down-"

"Excuse me!" Cecil waved the boy over. "Can I have a caramel latte? And...Will, what would you want?"

Will blinked. "I still have a full cup."

Cecil turned back to the waiter. "Then just a caramel latte. And can I ask your name?"

The boy blinked. "Nico...di Angelo..."

Cecil stood up. "Nico, are you single?"

Nico blinked again before scowling, mumbling "I don't get paid enough for this" under his breath before walking away, throwing his notebook at the other waiter.

"Cecil!" Will pulled him back into his seat. "What are you doing? If I get kicked out of this place, I'll never see him again. There's nowhere else-" He froze, his eyes on the door and the young man that walked through.

Will hadn't learned his name yet, either, but he was probably around nineteen also. Brown hair, cut short. Green eyes a little cold but perfect. Hot. Handsome. Will felt his face heat up.

"Him?" Cecil's eyes had followed him also. "Give it up, Will. You're hopeless."

Will turned to him. "Dude."

"What? He's way out of your league." Cecil dug around in his pocket before throwing some money on Will's book. "That's for my stuff. I'm going to get going."

"What? Why?" Will asked.

"Homework. And I can't watch your hopeless face stare at him for too much longer." Cecil got up and headed for the door, stopping for a minute to look at Nico's form behind the counter. "Bye, Nico!"

Nico scowled as Cecil left the coffee shop but didn't reply, instead going back to the coffee he was making.

Will pushed the money to the side before picking up his book, flipping through the pages until he found the bookmark. He had read it twice before, but it never got old.

It was only five minutes before he let his eyes wander back over to the "out of his league" man. He had also opened a book, the front cover visible to Will's blue eyes. The same cover he held in his own hands.

Will grinned. Maybe some people were meant to be.

* * *

"His name's Bryce Lawerence," Will said into the phone. "We're going to Barnes and Noble tomorrow."

Cecil let his bike slide to a stop as he saw the all too familiar police lines ahead. "A bookstore date? I'm not sure how well that will go, Will."

"But he likes the same author that I do," Will stressed. "Luke Castellan."

"Yeah, I know him," Cecil sighed. "You say his name about every day. Well, I guess if that's what he likes... Good luck."

"Yeah, thanks. And stay safe," Will warned. He could hear the sirens over the phone as Cecil paddled past them. "Attacks are getting closer."

* * *

Will sat across from Bryce in a Burger King, having already finished his own burger and had moved on to his fries. They had been talking, it had been fun, he may actually manage to get a boyfriend. 

"Are you going to eat?" Will finally asked, his eyes on the one bite missing from Bryce's burger.

Bryce gave him an embarrassed smile. "I'm actually on a diet, believe it or not. Doc wants me to lose some pounds."

Will glanced over his perfect body. Maybe he was blinded by what he thought was love. "Really?"

Bryce nodded. "I'm going to run to the bathroom. I'll be right back?"

Will watched him walk off before looking back to his own food. Not everyone had a great image of themselves, he had seen it before. Maybe he could find a way to make Bryce see how perfect he was.

It was later that night when they stepped out of the bookstore, Will's smile still as bright as ever. "I...I'll see you some other time?"

Bryce nodded before his face took on a more worried tone.

"What is it?" Will asked.

Bryce sighed. "Those attacks are getting so close. The one last night was only a block away. It just...makes me nervous, walking those streets alone."

"Oh..." Will gave him another smile. "I'll walk you home, no worries. And I can pick you up next time."

Bryce's face broke out in relief. "Really? You don't mind?"

Will shook his head. "Nope, no worries. Come on, show me the way."

They walked together through the city, talking about random things that came to mind. Will explained Cecil, how they had been friends since childhood, then about his own family, how his dad died before he could remember, how his mom died when he was sixteen, how he had been on his own ever since.

"I've only ever told this to Cecil," Will thought out loud. The streetlights lit their path up, along with only a few other stragglers. Will was too busy on Bryce to notice Nico di Angelo walk by.

They came to a split. Bryce pointed down the darker path, his bag of books held close to his chest. "This way."

Will followed him. They were more outside the city, an overpass above them. 

"Will," Bryce stopped walking. "I wanted to say... I noticed, you watching me at Big House."

Will blushed. "You...you did?"

Bryce nodded before taking another step toward him, his breath hot against his neck. Will was hot head to toe. 

"And I...I was watching you," Bryce whispered.

For two seconds, Will's life had risen to an all-time high. Two seconds.

Then he felt the bite. Saw the long styx growing out of Bryce's back. Smelled his own blood.

"Amazing!" Bryce stepped back, Will's blood covering his face. His eyes were red, were amused at his trapped prey. "You taste amazing!"

Will's breathing was too fast. Panic and fear ran through his veins. _This can't be happening this can't be happening this can't-_

Instincts finally kicked in, and he turned around and ran the other way. He made it only ten feet before he felt something wrap around his ankle and pull him back.

"Now, now, no going far." Bryce's styx were sprouting from the bottom of his back, red and thick and looking like some form of tentacles. Two of them. One wrapped around Will's ankle, holding him upside down in front of Bryce's face. 

_Oh god oh god oh god-_

Bryce threw him into the nearest wall, and all Will was aware of was the crunching sound and the pain. Maybe this was a dream. He had been having so many nightmares, so many...

There was too much pain. He couldn't write it off.

"Wiiilll," Bryce called. "Don't be dead yet. We've just started playing."

Will couldn't move even though his instincts were screaming at him. How far had he thrown him? How had he gotten on the outside of that overpass...?

"There you are!" Bryce picked him up again and held him out, seeming to be inspecting him. "Perfect. Has anyone ever told you you're perfect, Will?"

He was going to die. He accepted it more quickly than he ever would have thought. This was death. He'd be seeing soon enough what religion was real.

His eyes rolled up and saw the streetlights from the overpass, the large crane working on it, the figure. An angel? He was losing too much blood. He wasn't even sure if he still had a shoulder after that bite he took.

A snap. Blackness.

* * *

Will dreamed he was floating deep in an ocean, its dark waves eerily calm. But he could smell blood, his blood. He could still feel the pain. 

What had happened? He couldn't quite remember.

The water was thick, but it a peaceful way. He half felt like he was laying on a bed, beneath the waves, watching them go by and trying to figure out why it hurt so badly. Why he was naked.

Suddenly Bryce was swimming up beside him, also naked. But Will didn't swoon over that boy like he once did. He tried his hardest to swim away, to escape, to never see that boy again because oh god he tried to eat me.

_Get away get away get away_

Bryce caught up to him in the dark waters and pulled his body closer to his. Blood. It was in the water all around them. God, did it smell like blood.

Then the waves disappeared, and his vision went dark.

* * *

Will blinked his eyes open as his consciousness finally came back. His shoulder was numb as well as his stomach, and his head was pounding along to his heartbeat. It smelled like the hospital the day his mom died.

"Mr. Solace, how are you feeling?" A doctor was leaning over him, shining a light into his eyes, taking his vitals and other things Will didn't care enough to pay attention to. Pain. He was alive.

"Bryce...?"

The doctor paused. "I'm so sorry, Will. But your friend didn't make it."

Friend, yeah right. Will had never thought he'd be so relieved to hear someone was dead.

"What happened?" Will croaked. He looked around, saw the hospital room around him. "What...what..."

The doctor pulled a chair up and sat in it. "I'm Dr. Rollington, but you can call me Apollo. I'm your lead doctor during your stay here. A crane from a construction site fell off an overpass and onto you and your friend. He was pronounced dead on arrival. But you had less damage. Some of your organs were crushed, so I transplanted your friend's liver and lungs into you. It was the only way you were going to survive, and we couldn't find any of his family to ask permission. There are quite a few negative critics and paperwork."

Will blinked. "My shoulder...do I have a shoulder? He ate it..."

Apollo laughed. "That ghoul that attacked you two did get a pretty good bite out of you. But we patched you up and you should be as good as new in a couple of weeks."

Will groaned softly before sitting up. "I'm hungry..."

"That's a good sign." Apollo got up and gave his good shoulder a soft pat. "Have a nurse page me if you need anything. They'll bring some food in soon."

Will laid in silence once he was gone, his eyes still on the ceiling above him. He lived. He had fucking survived a ghoul attack.

Bryce Lawrence. He hadn't liked him. He had just wanted to eat him.

It made him sick.

The nurse eventually brought in a tray of food. It didn't look very appealing, but what hospital food did? He waited until the nurse was gone before bringing a spoonful of the potatoes to his mouth, his eyes widening at the severe, horrid, bitter taste of them. He threw up. Hard. 

Maybe his tastebuds were off from the meds.

* * *

Will was in the hospital for the next week. Every time he went to eat, the taste made him physically throw up. The doctors thought it was something off mentally, maybe from the trauma. Bottom line- they didn't look into it and sent him home.

It was too long of a walk back to his apartment despite the nice weather outside. His stomach was growling and the incision sites ached. He never should have laid eyes on Bryce Lawrence.

Getting to his apartment was so much of a relief he almost cried. He was finally home, to his own bed, his own books, his own food. Damn, he hadn't been this hungry in who knows how long.

He walked in to find that Cecil had left a bag and note sitting by the door. How he had gotten in? Well, Will stopped questioning his lock-picking skills a long time ago. Will immediately recognized the Burger King bag and barely registered the note as he carried it to the couch.

_Heard you were getting out today. Hurry back to campus, life's boring without you. I got your favorite as a welcome home gift. ~Cecil_

Will grabbed the Whopper out of the bag and ripped it open. So hungry...

The taste sent him running to the bathroom to throw up.

He tried it a second time, just in case, and it held the same outcome as before. Then he tried the fries, then the chicken nuggets, and they all tasted as bitter and horrible as the hospital food had.

"What the fuck..." Will whimpered to himself, curled up on his bedroom floor, the lights all out except for the flickering TV. "What the fuck is wrong with me?"

The TV was the only other sound in the apartment. As he laid there wondering what in hell to do, he started to unconsciously tune in to the talk show.

"A ghoul doesn't have any need to eat this much," a man was saying. "in this short amount of time in the first place. One dead body will allow them to survive for a month or two."

"Can't ghouls be satisfied by eating the same food as humans do?" the interviewer asked.

It must have been about the Binge Eater. Things were always about the Binge Eater.

"No, ghouls are only able to derive their nutrition from people," the man answered. "Not to mention that their tongues work differently than ours do. When they eat human food, it tastes incredibly awful to them."

Will's heart seemed to freeze. Bryce...his organs...Bryce's organs in his body... The food, the food...starvation...

Will sprinted for the kitchen and tried anything he could. The pack of cookies on the counter, the ice cream in the freezer, the ranch and ketchup and even an old tomato in the back of the fridge. Everything came back up. Everything tasted worse than he could even imagine. He had never thrown up so many times in one day.

"This can't be real...this can't be real..." Will laid on the kitchen floor, surrounded by vomit and food, stomach growling and heart pounding. "This can't be real."

He wasn't sure how long he laid there like that, disbelieving, trying to come up with some other excuse. But he wasn't stupid. 

After some time, his phone's ringtone cut through the kitchen. He let it stop before listening to the voicemail, keeping his head against the cold kitchen floor. 

"Hey, Will, it's me. That author you like, Luke or whatever, he's doing a book signing down the street if you're interested. Get better, okay?"

Will felt guilty as hell for ignoring Cecil, but what was he supposed to tell him? How could he say anything if he wasn't even going to admit it to himself?

Will dragged himself to his feet after some time. Maybe the book signing would clear his mind. Maybe he was just imagining things. He just needed to get out, take a walk.

He needed it to work. He needed this nightmare to be over.

Will grabbed a hoodie and threw it on before making his way to the Barnes and Noble. Everyone he passed smelled like heaven. His stomach was growling.

_So hungry._

He felt like he'd never be full again.

By the time he got to the bookstore, a sign plastered on the window read that the book signing was over. Typical. Even now that he was dead, Bryce's effects on him were ruining his life.

Reality hit him like a freight train. He took Bryce on a date, a _date_ , and it had gone damn good... Then Bryce Lawrence tried to fucking eat him.

Will felt shivers going down his back. He never thought he'd cross a ghoul like that. But here he was, ghoul organs inside him, his tastebuds-

Will slapped himself, his eyes wide. No. Fucking _no._

He threw his hood up and started his walk back home. He was starving. Everyone he passed...they smelled so good. The woman and her kids, the group of teenagers, the old couple holding hands... He could feel his mouth water, his stomach was growling too loud.

 _Eat_. Bryce's voice seemed to come from nowhere. _Eat them_.

Will sprinted the rest of the way home. 

"No, no, no..." He sprinted to his bathroom, needed to make sure what he was feeling wasn't real. This couldn't be happening.

He stopped in front of his mirror and lost all hope he had before. His right eye was red, it was a ghoul's, it was Bryce's. It was red.

Ghouls couldn't be hurt with just blades, they couldn't be... Will sprinted for the kitchen, grabbed a steak knife, held his shirt up and brought the knife down on his stomach.

It broke against his skin.

Will sunk to his knees in the still filthy kitchen, felt every last bit of hope drain out of him. This wasn't right...it couldn't be right...

He was so hungry.


	2. Enlightenment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Curious on your opinions... should it be Clarisse x Chris or Clarisse x Silena? Comment and let me know!
> 
> And for those who have watched Tokyo Ghoul, I plan on keeping the first season mostly the same, but from there on out it's going to change.

Cecil tried calling Will for the tenth time, but the phone went to voicemail as it had been. How long had it been since he last spoke to him? It was getting too long for his liking.

"Anything wrong?"

He looked up to see the leader of the club he had joined after Will's accident, some photography thing or another. He just needed something to do when Will wasn't in the picture.

Her name was Clarisse La Rue, and she scared him a little, to be honest. Brown hair, brown eyes, always a coffee in hand. She called all the shots.

"My friend just recently got out of the hospital," Cecil explained. "He's not answering any of my calls."

"What an ass of a friend," she commented. 

He frowned. "Will's always been my best friend since we were little. He's just going through something right now."

She huffed and turned back to her computer. "Yeah, well, if my friend did that to me, he'd be out of my life."

* * *

Sometime during the night, Will wandered out again. Reality wasn't reality anymore, it was a strange mist of anxiety and hunger and cravings. Cravings that were immoral. 

Cravings he never thought he'd ever have.

Bryce's voice was getting louder. He didn't realize the words were coming out of his mouth.

_Kill them, and eat their flesh!_

"No, no, no!" Will slapped himself. He wasn't doing this, it couldn't be happening, this was all some sick joke or nightmare-

That smell. It hit him so hard, was just so good... It was food. By the smell, even he could eat it. He could finally eat-!

Will took off sprinting. _Eat eat eat eat eat eat_

His eye was red. He could feel it. But the smell and the hunger and everything in the moment kept him from even caring.

He would finally be able to eat-!

He stopped in front of the source of the smell. His eyes- one blue, one red- widened in unimaginable horror.

That man was leaning over that body, was eating its insides...

His head snapped up to stare at Will. Will thought for sure that he was dead, but the man relaxed again.

"You're a ghoul?" He looked at Will's red eye before looking back to his meal. "It's been a while, I can't share much." He ripped an arm off and held it out. "But you can have this."

Will didn't even get to say _hell no_ like he planned on. No, instead someone else dropped down from nowhere and kicked the man's head clean off his body.

_What the fuck-_

It was a young woman, with two red eyes. He was standing in front of a ghoul again, a ghoul who had just killed another one. Bryce's image kept flashing in his mind.

Ghoul-woman looked down at the mess at her feet, nudged one of the bodies with her Nikes before looking at Will. "These are my feeding grounds."

"I..." Will couldn't get over how the amazing smell doubled. "I just...stumbled across...this..."

Her hand was suddenly around his throat, pinning him to the brick wall of the alley, his feet a good five inches off the ground. 

"Picture this," she snarled. "Your girlfriend's laying on the ground, pants ripped apart, a man sitting over her with his own pants down. 'I just stumbled across her naked', he says." She leaned forward. "I would beat his brains in."

Will's heart was running rampant. The smell was still hitting his nose and his right eye twitched. His throat hurt like hell, but nothing like the shoulder Bryce had bitten.

"So that's why I'm going to-"

"Clarisse." Nico di Angelo dropped down from one of the rooftops, landing in a crouched position too easily. He wasn't in the waiter uniform Will had always seen him in. And his eyes...

Both red.

"di Angelo." Clarisse dropped Will and turned to face the newcomer. Her brown hair was tied up, her red eyes glowed with anger. "These were originally my feeding grounds before that moron Bryce came around here. Now that he's gone, they're back to me."

Nico rolled his- very red- eyes. "They belong to us at Big House, now that Binge Eater is gone. You wanna fight it out, hurry up. I'm not in the mood for you tonight."

Will sat against the brick wall, his hand on his throat as he watched. It smelled too good to run away. His stomach started to grumble loud enough for all of them to hear.

He didn't expect them to actually fight, but Clarisse lunged at Nico, one styx growing from her back. Nothing came from Nico's.

Hers was different than Bryce's. It was thicker, was orange, could change shape as it tried to pound Nico into the pavement.

But he was faster than anyone Will had ever seen. Quick. He bounced from one place to the next, always landing on his feet, always dodging. He got good hits on her, punches and kicks without looking like he was trying. 

Finally, Clarisse seemed to disappear to a rooftop, then she was gone.

Nico's combat boots stepped into the blood pooling around them. He knelt down beside the ghoul's body before looking up at Will, his eyes returning to their usual black state.

His head cocked to the side. "Only one of your eyes are red."

Will's eyes trailed over to the bodies as his stomach growled again. Dead people...they smelled good to him...

"You're hungry," Nico stated. "Why don't you eat?"

Will shook his head repeatedly. "No. No, no."

Nico kicked the original corpse over. "Why not?"

Will stared down at it before scrambling to his feet. "Because I'm not a ghoul! I'm not a monster! The second I eat that, I'm going to be a monster!"

Nico growled. "Not a monster, huh? Then what the fuck does that make me?"

Will shrunk away. "I...I..."

"You're the boy that was with Bryce." The piece of information seemed to suddenly dawn on Nico. "And you're alive."

Will held his head, felt the pain in his stomach. So hungry. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm human! I'm a human, I swear! But the transplant, and I can't eat anything, and I'm so hungry...so hungry... And the smell-"

Nico knelt down and grabbed the arm previously ripped off. "Eat this."

"No!" Will scrambled backward. "I'm not! I'm not a-!"

Nico took the opportunity. With Will's mouth open, he stuffed a handful of guts in and held his mouth closed.

"Eat it!"

Will couldn't think, he tried struggling. But the taste.

It was the best thing he had ever tasted.

He got away and sprinted to the side, spitting out as much as he could as quickly as he could. He couldn't eat a human. He couldn't.

"I can't eat a human!" Will felt tears come to his eyes. "I can't! I'm not a ghoul, I'm a human!"

Nico stuffed his hands in the pockets of his dark hoodie before letting out a sigh. "I can smell you, you know. You're not a ghoul. But you're damn well not human, either."

Will spit some more out, tried to cleanse his mouth of the cannibilism. "Please, help me," he begged. "Ever since Bryce, my life's been hell. I...I was in college, I was going to be a doctor. Now I can't eat... I... I'm not a monster, I swear."

Nico kneed him in the stomach before kicking him into the nearest wall. "Again, what does that make me? Are you calling me a monster?" He looked down at his hoodie, his skinny jeans, his combat boots. "I look just like any other human. But..."

Nico grabbed the arm again. "I tried cake once since humans love it so much. I couldn't stop throwing up. What does cake taste like?"

Will didn't answer. Pain was swirling in his mind, but so was hunger.

"You think I'm a monster?" Nico's eyes turned red as he stomped over to Will, kneeled in front of him. "Fine, you don't want to eat? See how long you can go. But I'm going to warn you, starving for ghouls is worse than hell."

"Nico, that's enough."

Will looked up in shock at the new voice, his eyes widening when he saw the older man standing there. He had on the uniform he was used to seeing at Big House, with brown hair and eyes. And he was _tall._

"Chiron." Nico stepped away from Will. 

The man, Chiron, looked to Will with warm eyes. "It's been hard for you, hasn't it? Come with me."

Nico scowled. "Chiron, why-"

"Nico, it's our policy to help ghouls in need." Chiron's eyes turned red as he began to walk away.

He was also a ghoul... Will felt his head spinning, but he stood up and stumbled after him. He needed help, he needed so much help.

Chiron led them to Big House coffee. Will followed him into the closed coffee shop, his eyes wide as he looked around. It was so different in the dark. 

"Sit," Chiron gestured to the bar and walked behind it. Nico, on the other hand, sat at one of the tables in the back.

Will sat on one of the barstools, his hands clasped together in his lap. He would never forget that taste, the flesh and insides Nico had stuffed in his mouth.

And what Nico had said. He wasn't a ghoul. But he wasn't a human. The hurt in Nico's eyes when he called him a monster. The red eyes.

"Here." Chiron set a cup of coffee in front of Will. "Enjoy."

Will froze. He could only imagine what it would taste like, the bitter, horrid taste the rest of his kitchen tasted like. 

"Do you not like coffee?" Chiron asked.

"It's not that," Will mumbled. 

"Try it," Chiron insisted.

Will glanced up at him before looking back to the cup. It _did_ smell good. Making sure he had eyes on the garbage can so he didn't throw up all over the floor, Will raised the cup to his lips and drank.

And then downed it.

"It's amazing..." he breathed, staring into his now empty cup. "I...I can drink it..."

Chiron's eyes were so warm, so kind. "As far back as history writes, coffee is the only thing ghouls can enjoy that humans do as well. No one knows why. But coffee isn't enough to keep your hunger in check."

He grabbed a wrapped package from behind the counter and placed it in front of Will. "Take this. If you run out, don't be afraid to ask for more. You're always welcome here."

Will stared at it. "What is it?"

Chiron just smiled. "Head home, it's getting pretty late. Take it."

Will pocketed the package but was pretty sure what was inside, and he wasn't going to eat that. "Thank you, sir."

"Chiron," Chiron corrected. "Not sir."

Will felt himself relaxing in the man's presence. "Thank you, Chiron." He glanced at Nico, frowned when he saw the boy scowling his way.

* * *

As soon as Will was gone, Nico stood up. "Why'd you help him?"

Chiron took the empty cup and started to clean it. "Nico, do you remember the story on the news about the organ transplant, how the doctors didn't ask the permission of the boy's family?"

"But the boy that died in that accident was Bryce... You're saying Will is the other boy? The one that got his organs?" Nico asked.

Chiron nodded. "He had ghoul organs implanted inside of him. It's never happened before, not that I've heard of. But I think he's turning into one of us."

Nico grabbed a towel and started to wipe down the tables. He thought back to that night when he saw Will walking with Bryce. Was he gay...?

* * *

Will sat on his bed, his hands on his head and his feet tapping away. Flesh, flesh...it had been so good...

He wasn't a ghoul or a human, Nico had said. He was what, a half-breed?

Flesh...he was so hungry...the dark room around him seemed to be crawling closer and closer.

"Who cares if you're a halfbreed?" Bryce was suddenly in the corner, leaning against the wall, his red eyes bright and wide and everything that kept him up at night. "That great meal of flesh awaits you. Take it while you have the chance."

Will's eye turned red, his gaze landed on that package. It smelled, it smelled...

"Go on," Bryce urged. "It's just for you."

Will went to grab it, but his phone's ringtone chirped into the silence. Bryce was gone, had never been there. That package in front of him sat waiting.

Will grabbed it and threw it in the garbage. No, he wasn't going to stoop that low.

* * *

Will walked through campus the next day, an eyepatch over that right eye just in case. There were so many people, so many people eating... Subway didn't smell good anymore. The sight of one sub almost made him throw up.

"Will Solace!"

He turned around just in time for Cecil to pull him into a hug. "I was so worried! What the hell did you think you were doing, hiding from me like that?! What's with the eyepatch? Look, I've missed you so much. I've got the notes from history if you need them, but it's been pretty lame."

Will couldn't help but smile. Normal. It felt normal for the first time since Bryce bit him.

"Will!" Cecil yelled. "Earth to Will!"

"Sorry, what?" Will asked. "What'd you say?"

Cecil sighed. "I've gotta go meet someone in this club I joined and borrow some materials. What to tag along?"

Being with Cecil was so addicting, the normality of it. "Sure."

Cecil began to lead him away. "Will, have you been eating alright?"

Will almost froze in his tracks. "What? I..."

"You're looking pretty pale," Cecil worried. "You're going to get sick if you don't get back into your normal schedules."

Will let out a small sigh. "I'm working on it, no worries."

He continued to follow him to some type of meeting room or another, he wasn't really sure. There was a girl sitting at a desk surrounded by coffees, along with a few other desks and computers in the room.

"Hey, Clarisse, I came to pick up that work." Cecil walked into the room like it was normal, but Will's eyes were on that girl as she turned around.

The same one from the night before. But her eyes were brown.

"Cecil, who's this?" her eyes landed on Will. "The friend that wouldn't answer your calls?"

Cecil nodded. "Will Solace. Will, this is Clarisse La Rue."

Clarisse got up and started to search through papers and folders. After about five minutes, she looked at Cecil. "Must have left them at home, only a couple blocks. Want to head over there?"

Will froze. A ghoul...a ghoul wanted to take Cecil all alone... She was planning on eating him. 

"I'll come, too," Will volunteered. "I'll come."

Cecil looked over at him. "You sure? You don't have to."

Will nodded. "I'm sure. I need to get out of the house, you know?"

* * *

He watched Clarisse the whole walk. Ghouls that he once thought were humans kept popping up everywhere. Were they just suddenly attracted to his life?

No, that wasn't it. As he looked around, the unsettling thought occurred to him. They had always been there, blending in. He only now noticed because he was-

No, he wasn't one of them.

They got below an overpass. It was always a _fucking_ overpass. Clarisse stopped in the middle and took off her large camo-print jacket, neatly putting it to the side.

"What-"

She kicked Cecil aside, and he fucking flew about twenty feet before crashing into a collum, going unconscious almost immediately. Will could smell his blood from there.

"What are the chances of having another ghoul on campus?" Clarisse looked him over. "I could smell it as soon as you walked into the room, you know. You stink. Like a female one."

She grabbed his throat and pinned him to another collum, her eyes turning red. "You were going to eat Cecil, weren't you? That thrill of turning against someone who trusts you. How long have you been saving it for?"

"I'm not...like...you..." Will gasped.

"Really?" Clarisse clicked her tongue before punching right through his stomach, blood spurting out. She let him slide to the ground, scowled down at him. "Don't talk back to me."

Pain. Gasps of breath. Flashbacks to Bryce... The smell of blood.

"You're soft," Clarisse commented. "I punched right through you." She walked over to Cecil's discarded body and placed her foot on his head. "When were you going to eat him?"

Will struggled to his feet, felt like every cell was on fire. He had to save him, had to save him... "Cecil's not food... Take...take your foot off."

Clarisse smirked. "Take my foot off, huh? You mean this one?" She stomped hard on the side of Cecil's head. Blood started to gush out.

Anger filled Will's bones more than the pain. That was Cecil, his best friend, his _only_ friend. He wasn't going to let her eat him. He couldn't.

"Leave him alone!" Will sprinted towards Clarisse, but she simply kicked him aside. Pain. So much pain. But he tried to get up again.

"Give it a rest!" she kicked him further. "Humans are meat, just like pigs and cows." Clarisse stepped over him and stomped on his stomach. "Cecil was a pretty bad choice for a friend, you know. He's smart. And that's a threat."

Will shook his head. "He...he's my..."

"Friend? Yeah, you said it before." Clarisse grabbed his eyepatch and threw it aside, revealing the red eye beneath. "You can't even control your eyes. Or, well, eye. That's disgusting, you know, only having one."

Will was gasping in pain, barely registered more kicks and punches and blood. So much blood, so much pain. The only thing that snapped him back to reality was seeing her stand over Cecil again.

"Should I eat him first?" she asked. "My styx will push right through him."

Will lifted his head up, the pain overtaking his senses. But what could he do? This was a ghoul in front of him, this was what first ruined his life before. 

"Good, you're up." Clarisse's styx was like the night before, was flexible, came from her back like a tail and wrapped down her leg. "Get a move on or I'll crush his skull."

_No...no..._ He couldn't move. His heart was racing. _No, not Cecil, not him..._

He flashbacked to when they first met as kids, Cecil coming up to him, asking to be friends. Then it was when he bailed Cecil out for the first time, asked him why he got in that fight. How Cecil tried to keep from him that that bully had been calling him shit.

Cecil was his best friend, he was like a brother. He was family. And he wasn't going to let him die. 

"NO!" Will was suddenly on his feet, could feel his right eye bulging and pulsating. Something was wrong, but he was on some kind of high. He could feel something break through the skin of his back. He felt like he had four extra arms. "I'm not letting him die!"

He lunged forward. Something threw Clarisse. He could see its red outline, could barely register that it was him controlling it. Was it...no, it couldn't be...

They stabbed through Clarisse over and over, so many times he couldn't count. But she wasn't going to kill Cecil, she wasn't going to kill him. He threw her so far he couldn't see what was left.

Blood was everywhere. Will turned to Cecil, felt relief in knowing that he was alive.

Then Bryce appeared, that mother fucker leaning over Cecil, his red eyes bright and staring into Will's.

"He looks so good..." Bryce drawled. "Smells amazing."

"He's not food!" Will yelled.

"Are you sure?" Bryce was suddenly behind him, his hands on Will's shoulders. "Look closer. Smell it."

Will felt his mouth watering. It smelled right. It was right, it was right.

He took a step closer and kneeled down beside his friend. 

"You're not doing anything wrong," Bryce urged. "You want it so bad you can barely stand it. It's right. It's what you're supposed to do. No more wondering."

He disappeared, and Will felt like punching himself in the face.

"He's all yours," Bryce's voice rang loud and clear. "All yours."

"All mine," Will repeated. Saliva dripped down his chin.

"Eat him!"

Will grabbed Cecil's arm and opened his mouth. But another voice came ringing through.

"You didn't last long, huh?" Nico was standing over him, same hoodie and boots. His hair was tied back. "You're head's gone to your stomach."

"Go away!" Will growled. It felt like Bryce was controlling, had his hands on the wheel.

"Your friendship doesn't even matter to you." Nico kneeled down beside Cecil. "You're going to regret it if you eat him, you know. You're going to be surrounded by blood and regret. That's what our destiny is, you know."

_Eat, hunger, blood, friend, Cecil, humans, blood..._ Thoughts raced through his mind, but his body growled again. Those extra _whatever_ were back as well. 

Nico shook his head in disappointment. "You're a handful, you know." He took his hoodie off and threw it aside, revealing a black muscle shirt. "Chiron's gotta up my pay."

His styx grew from his back, but they were nothing like anything Will could imagine. They were beautiful. They looked like wings, fire-wings, red and purple and everything.

_Beautiful._

* * *

Will woke up in a sweat. He looked around, noticed the unfamiliar room. Was it all a dream? He almost believed it until he tasted the blood in his mouth.

"Nico brought you here." Chiron was in the doorway, those eyes sad and worried. 

Will sat up from the couch, let the blanket drop away. "Where's Cecil?" Thoughts were coming back like bullets.

Chiron gestured to the hallway. "Come with me."

Will sprinted after him. And when he saw Cecil sleeping in the next room over, bandaged but fine as ever, he felt like maybe the world would be alright again.

"I...I was so controlled by my hunger..." Will whispered, lifting his shirt to look at his stomach. It was healed like she had never punched through it. "I thought I was going to die. I...I had no control over anything."

Chiron shut Cecil's door so they were alone in the hallway. It was a simple place, though Will wasn't quite sure where they were. But something smelled like Nico.

Will felt tears prickle in his eyes. "I went after Cecil, the hunger was so bad. But now it's gone. Tell me the truth, I can't remember. The blood in my mouth..."

"There's only one way to satisfy a ghoul's hunger," Chiron replied. "Nico did what he had to. If you had gone without eating any longer, you would have eaten your friend."

Will leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes. Tears were streaming down his face as he realized. It was done.

He had eaten human. He couldn't be one of them any longer. 

"Accept who you are," Chiron put a hand on his shoulder. "It's for the best."

All Will could think about was Cecil, how he never wanted to hurt him again. "I can't be around him. I...I can't risk it ever again. I can't. But I can't be a ghoul, either. I'm not like you. But...I'm not human anymore... Where do I go?"

"You are ghoul _and_ human," Chiron corrected. "You have a place in both worlds. Work at Big House. We'll lead you down a path that you can be free again. I also want you to understand better, to see if we're really the monsters you think we are."

Will wiped his raw eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"I do," Chiron affirmed. "Come on, I'll show you how to make coffee."

* * *

Athena Chase was a tall woman with a stone-cold face, blonde hair, and blue eyes. Her white coat marked her as an Investigator, a ghoul-hunter, and the briefcase at her side masked her weapon.

She stood on top of that building and stared at the rain, her smile wide and insane. "The rain dulls their senses, Jackson. It's perfect weather."

Percy Jackson stood behind her. He was one of the newest investigators, and he watched her in confusion with his white coat wrapped tightly around him. "According to New York's report, there was a Binge Eater attack three months ago in this building, as well as eyewitness accounts of Kronos."

"A binge eater and Kronos..." Athena mused.

"Interaction between two S-rated ghouls," Percy finished.

Athena cocked her head to the side. "I can tell you one thing: they weren't sharing a meal." Her smile widened. "There."

She jumped to a landing about ten feet below them, her coat billowing in the wind.

"Investigator Chase-!"

She looked up at him before holding up a small device, it somewhere looking like a pair of plyers. "You always find something in the rain."


	3. Masked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who's read/watched Tokyo Ghoul:  
> As I've been writing, I've decided to stick to the plot even less now to the point where I might just use the anime as a general structure. So some characters may not turn into or have the background that they do in the anime/manga, and others might not exist at all. So a lot of things will be different, especially almost to the end of the first season

Hazel Levesque was thirteen years old, a happy kid that kept close to her mother most of the time but absolutely _adored_ her father. She was mixed, her father white and her mother black, and most resembled her mother. But her eyes- they were gold, nothing like either of her parents. And she could control them from turning red better than most ghouls her age.

The day her life changed was like any other. She sat with her mother in her father's office, drawing on a discarded piece of paper as her parents talked. 

Her mother was Marie Levesque, a young woman who was brought up in New Orleans but moved to New York, where there were fewer investigators at the time. She usually didn't work, but sometimes she filled in as a receptionist in the office.

Hazel's father was Pluto Levesque, a man about ten years older than her mother but every bit in love with her. He was a doctor, one all ghouls could go to and trust. His eyes were pitch black and barely changed to red, even when he was hungry. 

And their little family was peaceful. She was happy, she was innocent, she was still a child.

Until Kronos came around.

She had seen him once before. He had been walking out of her father's office with a device in hand, his large smile the only part of his face showing through a mask. It reminded her of a clock, strangely enough, but instead of numbers, there were weird symbols she hadn't seen before.

"Never go near that man," Pluto had warned her. "If he ever comes back, hide. Run if you have to."

Hazel had nodded her small head and taken it seriously. Her father had never been so serious with her before.

But now, as she sat with her mother and drew a picture, she felt her heart racing when the man entered the room.

"Doc, it's been a long time." Either he hadn't noticed her and her mother or didn't care. His blue eyes were on her father, that ugly mask not hiding his smile.

"What do you want?" Pluto demanded. Marie pulled Hazel behind a curtain and clamped a hand over her small mouth.

"That trinket you made me, I need another one," Kronos's voice was deep, was cold, was teasing. It sent shivers down her spine. "That Binge Eater stole it from me."

Marie took in a sharp breath. Hazel could feel her shaking against her.

"Yes, yes, I'll get it done," Pluto promised. "I'll have in done within a month."

"A week," Kronos corrected. "I want it in a week."

Hazel could hear the fear in her father's voice. "A...a week?" he asked. "I'm not sure..."

"I'll be back Friday," Kronos continued. "And I want it just like the one before. Don't let me down."

What Hazel didn't see was Kronos's eyes flickering to her hiding spot with her mother, her father's shaking hands and red eyes.

When Kronos finally left, Marie grabbed Hazel and moved to her husband, her eyes worried and sad. "What are we going to do?"

* * *

Will stood in one of the rooms above Big House coffee, staring down at the cup of coffee in his hands. It was the fifth pot he had made, and it was still horrible compared to the coffee Chiron and Nico made.

"Don't be discouraged," Chiron smiled. "You need to take your time, don't rush. The taste is the consequence of the effort you put into it."

Will sighed. "Or I'm just really bad at making coffee."

Chiron laughed. "Or that, but I doubt that's it. Come downstairs, time to start your first day. Nico's going to be working with you."

"I don't think he likes me very much," Will admitted. "Wouldn't it be better if I trained with someone else?"

Chiron sighed. "Nico doesn't show his true feelings, this you'll learn. I'm sure he likes you just fine. Besides, no one's better at their job than Nico."

Will thought of Nico's dark hair and eyes, his pale skin, when his eyes turned red, that beautiful styx... Everything about him was just so beautiful to Will, but he wasn't completely sure why. He wasn't hot like Bryce, or any other boy Will had had a crush on. He was pretty, beautiful. 

"Go on," Chiron gestured to the door. "You'll do fine."

Will nodded before going downstairs, into the coffee shop. What he didn't expect to see was Cecil sitting on a barstool, talking to Nico di Angelo.

"Will!" Cecil waved him over. "I can't believe you're going to be working here."

Will looked him over. "What...what are you doing here?"

"Thanking Nico, of course," Cecil patted Nico's shoulder, making the younger boy scrunch up his face in discomfort. "He saved us from that accident, remember?"

Will frowned. Accident...?

Nico kicked him in the shin. Hard.

"Yeah, we were lucky..." Will breathed. "How's...?"

"Clarisse? Still in the hospital," Cecil got up and dropped some cash on the counter. "That's for the coffee, Nico. Thanks for everything."

Nico nodded. "No problem."

Cecil gave Will a hug before heading out, the door softly closing behind him. There were no other costumers there.

"Don't let him find out you're a ghoul," Nico warned. "He's smart."

Will rubbed his shin where Nico had kicked him. "I won't."

"I mean it," he insisted. "If he finds out, I'll have to kill him."

"Nico-"

"So if you don't want him dead, keep it the hell hidden." Nico put his hair into a ponytail, and even though they were talking about murder, Will couldn't help but stare at that pale neck. "Got it?"

Will nodded. "Got it..."

The door opened, the bell above it ringing from the motion. Nico turned around with his work-smile. "Welcome..." That fake smile dropped. "Marie!"

He threw his towel aside and walked to the two females. One was a woman and the other a child, both soaked from the pouring rain outside.

"Nico..." The woman, Marie, gave Nico a worried smile.

"Will, get some towels," Nico ordered. "Can't you see they're soaking?"

Will jumped slightly before doing as he was told. Once he came back from the closet with the clean towels, Nico gave a few to Marie before drying the kid's hair.

"I didn't know where else to go," Marie was saying. "Pluto..."

"I get it." Nico threw the wet towel at Will and grabbed another dry one from his hands, using it to wipe the girl's face. "Hazel, you want to take this with you when you and your mom go talk to Chiron?"

The little girl nodded and took the towel from Nico. She glanced up at Will, frowned when she saw she didn't know him, and buried her head in her mother's skirt. 

"This is Will Solace," Nico introduced. "It's his first day. You don't have to have any worries around him. Marie, Chiron's just upstairs."

"Thank you, Nico." Marie led Hazel through the door marked 'employees only' and to the staircase, the door soon closing behind their retreating forms.

"They're...ghouls?" Will asked.

"That's Marie Levesque," Nico explained. "She and her daughter will be staying here for a little while."

Will frowned. "Why?"

"Long story."

"I just wanted to know-"

"It's none of your business, got it?" Nico gestured to the wet towels in Will's hands. "Just go put those away and stop getting on my nerves."

Will went to do as he was told but Nico grabbed his arm.

"Wait," Nico frowned. "Has Chiron told you anything?"

"About...?" Will asked.

"The box-carriers. Has he said anything?"

Will shook his head. "No, nothing."

Nico shook his head in disbelief. "Always leaving everything to me."

* * *

"Anything else to report?"

Percy stood up from his seat in the meeting beside Athena, his gaze on the higher up. "Percy Jackson, Detective First Grade." The picture he sent appeared on the screen, showing the device he and Athena had found on top of that building. "As you all know, three months ago, Kronos came into contact with an S-rated ghoul, the Binge Eater. This was left by him at the crime scene."

Ratings, the nicknames they had for ghouls. It all worked to keep as many humans alive as possible. Some of the lower ratings were A and B, while the higher ones including S, double S, and describing only one ghoul on recond- triple S. A ghoul that was almost a myth than anything else.

"What is it?" Ares Trinity, the higher up, asked.

"We believe it's a ghoul medical apparatus," Percy continued. "When we analyzed it, we discovered that it was made of lethan steel."

Lethan steel. Weapons and devices made from dead ghouls' styx, some of the only things that were able to harm ghouls. Swords, bullets, they didn't work. They couldn't pierce through their skin.

But if you made those swords and bullets out of lethan steel, it was a whole different story.

"Kronos's objective is currently unknown," Percy concluded. "However, I would like to report that since their contact, there have been no Binge Eater predations."

He sat back down and glanced at Athena, who gave him an encouraging look. Seems like he was doing good, after all.

"Which means something is happening in New York," Ares summed up. "Athena, you're lucky with that new partner of yours."

Athena's smile was as cold as ever. "If only you could wrap up this meeting, and I can get back to using my time productively."

Ares rolled his eyes. "You and Jackson will be in charge of the city. Got it?"

Percy and Athena nodded.

He delivered his closing statement, one Percy had heard many times before.

"Our purpose here at CCG is to drive every last ghoul out of America. That is the one and only simple task that we should be doing. That remains unchanged. All right, let's focus our energies and get to it!"

A chorus of "yes sir"s followed.

* * *

"Now we're free to investigate as we wish," Athena said as they walked from the building. 

Percy nodded. "But that device is our only lead."

"It's enough," Athena insisted. She started walking again, and Percy could see why some people called her the 'War Goddess'. "The Gourmet, the Binge Eater, and Kronos... This will be fun."

* * *

It was after Will's shift, and he stood in a supply room with Chiron, staring down at one of the sandwiches made earlier. Before...the accident... he would have loved it. Ham, melted cheese. He wouldn't have hesitated at all. But now, standing here, he looked down at it as if it was found in the trash.

"Give it a try," Chiron ordered.

Will gave him a look. "But it's going to taste horrible, isn't it?"

Chiron nodded. "But to blend into the human world, you'll have to learn to eat like them. The trick is not to eat it, but swallow it whole. You have to pretend to chew it about ten times. Then be sure to throw it up before you start digesting it. Otherwise, it will ruin your health."

Will glared down at the sandwich. "It makes me sick to even think about putting that in my mouth."

Chiron laughed. "It'll be something you'll have to work at, I'm sure." He gave Will a serious look. "But once you've practiced, you'll once again be able to hang out and eat with your friend."

Will smiled. Hanging on with Cecil, just being normal. He missed that more than anything. "I'll do my best."

"Oh, and I have a gift." Chiron pulled a bag of what looked to be sugar cubes from his pocket. "Take this home with you."

"Sugar cubes?" Will asked, taking the bag from Chiron.

"They're a little different on the inside," Chiron admitted. "Dissolve them in your coffee, and it'll help your hunger to some degree."

Will glanced down at them. "What...what's in them?"

"Probably better if you don't know," Chiron said. 

Will looked down at them, and they did indeed look like sugar cubes. When his hunger got bad...

"Thank you, Chiron."

Chiron nodded. "And may I ask for you to work late today?"

"Yeah, I don't mind," Will assured him. And he didn't. The coffee shop, even with ghouls he hadn't met, even with Nico living in one of the rooms upstairs, it was more of a home to him than where he actually lived.

"I usually ask Nico to, but he's studying for a big test coming up," Chiron explained.

Will tried to picture Nico sitting at a desk and studying, but something about the image almost made him laugh. Nico was too fiery, always full of anger. He didn't seem like that type.

"I'd like you to go out food shopping in his place," Chiron finished.

Will froze. "Food shopping?" He backed up. "I can't kill anyone! I was supposed to be the healer!"

"You won't be harming anyone," Chiron assured him. "Big House provides food for our friends who can't hunt people themselves. You understand the necessity of that, yes?"

Will nodded, thinking back to Hazel and her mother. But if they weren't hurting anyone...

* * *

Will sat in the passenger seat of the car, having changed back to his regular clothes from his work uniform. Thanatos, another working at Big House, was driving him to wherever they were supposed to get food from. Will couldn't think of anything but blood and murder and other things that made him shake the whole way.

He tried to ask Thanatos a few times what they would be doing, but the man remained silent. He had black hair with gray streaks and eyes almost as dark as Nico's. His trench coat hid whatever clothes he had decided to wear.

Will wasn't sure if he had ever heard him speak before.

They drove out of the city and through different hills. Thanatos eventually parked the car by another and got out, gesturing for Will to do the same.

It was dark, the moon the only light in sight. There was an old railing nearby, and then it dropped off into nothing.

"We're so high..." Will put his hands on the railing and leaned forward, trying to see the bottom of the drop. "What are we doing-"

The railing broke and he fell through. He suddenly didn't care about the moon anymore, or where they were or the point of it. Instead, he felt his heart race up and a familiar feeling come to his eye and back. 

And suddenly, those red things were back. And they were digging into the hill as he fell, slowing his pace down. When he eventually landed on his back, they were gone but he could trace the path they left in their wake.

"Ow..." he whispered.

Thanatos landed beside him, on his feet as Nico had done so gracefully days before. 

Will felt his breathing go back to normal as he realized he wasn't dead, but staring up at the spot on the cliff where he had been seconds before. That full...he had survived a fall that far...

He sat up and put a hand on his chest, looking around. When he didn't expect to see was that he had fallen beside a dead body.

"What the fuck?!" Will scrambled back, felt his defenses going up. "What the fucking hell-"

"People come here to die," Thanatos dropped a duffle bag beside them and unzipped it. "They give up their lives. We're here to pack them up."

Will paled. Suicide victims...they were finding suicide victims. 

Thanatos kneeled next to the body and put his hands together in some sort of prayer. Will could only watch, his eyes on a man he hadn't once trusted, now seeing the most human-like action he ever had by a ghoul before.

Then Thanatos began to pack the body up, and all Will could do was not throw up.

* * *

Percy ran into the alley at the scream of pain, relaxing slightly when he saw Athena standing over two beaten ghouls. "I'm sorry, I was too slow."

"That's okay." She looked down at the ghouls, her sword of lethan iron in hand. "But you need to learn to use all your senses." She leaned by one of the ghouls and pulled Kronos's instrument out of her pocket. "Do you know what this is?"

The ghoul looked up at it, face full of panic and pain. "No, no, I've never seen anything like it!"

Athena shook her head before driving the sword through his face, killing him. "Very well. Let's head to the next, Percy."

Percy stared at the corpse for a little too long before following Athena. These things were killers, they had killed people he knew. And killing them was his line of work. He couldn't feel bad for them.

* * *

Will watched the customers, his eyes on each of them. They were all ghouls, he was pretty sure, and Chiron nodded his affirmation at him when he asked. A room full of ghouls...

"Nico," Chiron gestured him over. "Would you mind taking Will to get a mask made tomorrow? You're both off."

Nico scowled, his usual anger returning to his face. "Why? That idiot doesn't deserve one."

"He'd get lost if he went alone, and you know that area isn't the...safest," Chiron explained.

"But why does he need one?" Nico repeated.

"Nico..." Chiron gave him a serious look. "Two inspectors were assigned to the city."

"Gods?" Nico asked, his anger disappearing.

"Gods?" Will asked.

"They're already doing damage," Chiron put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "I'd like Will to get a mask as soon as possible, just in case."

Nico nodded. "Yeah, okay..." He turned to Will. "Eyepatch, meet me in Times Square tomorrow at eight. Be late and I'll kill you."

Will gulped. He wasn't sure if Nico was joking, but he wouldn't be surprised if he was being serious. "Okay."

* * *

Will stood in Times Square the following day, his hands in his pockets and his thoughts running wild. It was ten after eight and Nico was still nowhere to be seen. But Nico di Angelo was still someone Will couldn't understand. 

He was beautiful, he was angry, and he was the most humanistic ghoul Will had ever seen, even if he didn't perform humane acts as Thanatos did.

Not to mention he was still full from the night Nico had force-fed him. That morning he had coffee with one of those sugar cubes Chiron had given him, and he almost felt normal. He was just meeting someone in the city, he wasn't starving or out for blood, everything was fine.

But the last time he met a boy he wasn't friends with, it ended with him in the hospital. And that scared the shit out of him.

"There you are!" Nico kicked him in the back, almost causing him to fall into the street. "You're late."

Will couldn't help but smile at the accusation. Nico was in the same combat boots and skinny jeans, but this time he wore a gray shirt and brown aviator jacket. 

"Come on," Nico gestured with his head. "This way."

Will followed him in silence to the more dangerous parts of the city. People were fighting here and there, broken beer bottles were laying around, even a prostitute or two bat their eyelashes their way. Nico didn't seem fazed by anything, his eyes staying ahead with that blank face Will had seen so many times before. Nico was either blank or angry, never showing any other emotions. And Will could only wonder why.

Eventually, Nico led him into a small shop. Masks were placed on mannequins around the room, all different colors and sizes and styles. No other living person was in sight.

"Leo!" Nico called. "Hey, Leo, come out!"

A man around Will's age rolled out of the back room in a wheely chair, his black hair a mess and his brown eyes full of mischief. "Nico di Angelo! I haven't seen you in ages!"

Nico sighed before looking to Will. "Will, this is Leo Valdez. He's going to make your mask."

Leo grabbed a notebook and gestured Will over. "Come on over to my workspace, Willy."

Will looked to Nico, who nodded at him to follow Leo.

Leo took him to the back room and closed the door, sitting Will in a chair before getting back in his wheely one. "You smell so strange... Full name?"

Will blinked. "Will Solace."

"Will Solace," Leo repeated. "I'm going to take your measurements. Got a girlfriend?"

Will frowned. "Um, no."

Leo grabbed a tape measurer and began to measure different aspects of Will's head. "Any girls you find cute? Or do you swing the other way?"

Will's face turned red.

"Oh, okay," Leo grinned. "Any guys you find cute? What about Nico?"

Will felt the heat rise up again. "I mean... I don't know. He's pretty, almost like a doll."

Leo nodded. "Any allergies?"

"I don't think so..."

"What's the eyepatch for?" Leo pulled at its fabric.

"I can't control my ghoul eye," Will admitted. "I'm still getting used to it."

Leo raised an eyebrow but nodded. "The eyepatch is cute, I think I'll add that into the design. It's your first mask, right?"

Will nodded. "My first."

Leo glanced back at the door. "So, you find Nico cute, huh?"

Will blushed some more. "I guess, but he's...scary. He's always angry."

"I don't think he's scary," Leo jotted down notes in his notebook. "He works hard, has had a rough life. For ghouls who blend into society, we all have to wear a mask we never take off. If we're suspected for even a moment, we're done for. So we have to not get too involved. But he lives the life he does knowing that risk. He goes to school, has human friends, works with human costumers."

"Why's he want to be so involved?" Will asked. 

Leo shrugged. "Good question. Ask him yourself. But..." He shrugged a second time. "I get human costumers, too, sometimes, especially at my mechanic shop. It makes my heart beat a little faster. They fascinate me, the peaceful life they have. And when they accept you into it..." It was his third time shrugging, and Will had to wonder if something was wrong with his shoulder. "It makes you feel good, to be accepted, I guess. It's hard to explain."

He took another measurement before stepping back. "You're done."

Will got up and looked at Leo before holding his hand out. "Um...thank you."

Leo grinned and shook his hand. "This is going to be one hell of a mask, Will, don't you worry."

Will smiled. "I'm sure it will be. You seem to have a lot of nice ones out there."

Leo led him out to the main room, where Nico was passing the time by trying different masks on in front of a mirror.

"Here you go," Leo said. "Got him all measured up."

Nico placed the mask he was holding back on a mannequin. "Thanks, Leo."

"No problem." Leo winked at Will before heading back into the other room, leaving Will to follow Nico out of the building and back to their side of the city.

He thought of what Leo said, of Hazel and her mother, of Nico and Thanatos and Chiron. They were all ghouls trying to live in a human world, facing risks every day. They were all brave, braver than he'd ever be.

"Nico...?" Will stopped walking. "Can I ask you a question?"

Nico sighed but also stopped, turning to face him. "What?"

"What happened to Hazel and her mom?" Will asked.

"Why do you care?" Nico stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Because I want to know," Will replied. "I...I just want to know. I want to be able to help if I can."

Nico sighed. "They're living separate from her father, they have to. And she adores him, so she must be anxious. I haven't seen her like that before. She's usually just an innocent, happy little girl."

Will nodded, staring down at his feet. "Can I ask something else?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "Hurry up."

"What's the mask even for?" Will asked. "Why are we making me one?"

Nico narrowed his eyes. "Chiron didn't tell you?"

Will shook his head.

Nico let out a low growl. "Again, leaving everything to me. Fine, listen up. What we call gods, or ghoul investigators, they're crawling around. If you run into them, you don't want them seeing your face. You don't want their reports to say that Will Solace is a ghoul. You'd be hunted down. So we're having Leo make you a mask, to hide your face."

Nico's face held more anger than before as his thoughts seemed to wander off. "Damn those murderous bastards."

* * *

Will stood in front of the sort of living room above the coffee shop, having been told that's where Hazel had been staying. He wanted to help, any way he could, and was hoping even just talking to her would get her spirits up.

So he opened that door without knocking, not expecting to see her with blood covering her face, eating human from a plate with a fork and knife.

"Sorry!" Will held his hands up in surrender, his eyes wide at the sight. "I...I... Sorry!"

He ran out and closed the door behind him, going back down to the coffee shop. Nico was off, and it was the first time Will worked with anyone else. Tavis Stoll was standing behind the counter, drying a cup.

"What's up?" he asked.

Will explained what had happened despite only having met Travis once before. But Chiron had told Travis and his cousin, Connor, about Will's situation, the way he wasn't used to any of this. And for some reason, Will trusted him easily.

"Not good, Will, not good," Travis shook his head. "Girls don't usually like to be seen eating."

Will thought back to Clarisse and how different it had been for her. "Oh..."

"Here." Travis held out a cup of coffee. "Take this to her and apologize."

"Thanks..." Will took the cup and went back upstairs. Hazel's door was still closed, but her empty plate sat in the hallway in front of the door. Will stared at it for a minute too long before knocking. "Hazel, can I come in?"

"Yeah..."

Will opened the door to find Hazel sitting on the couch, reading a book. Her face was completely clean from the blood.

"I'm sorry about a little bit ago," Will said. "I brought you some coffee if you want it." He set it on the table in front of her. "There you go."

He went to walk off but stopped when he heard her soft voice.

"Will?" she asked.

He turned to face her. "Yeah?"

"I...I just wondered...which are you?" she asked. "I...I'm sorry if that's rude, but you're not like the others. If you were like us, I'd be able to smell it, even from far away. But you don't smell human, either."

Will looked down. "My mind is human... I grew up as one. But an accident happened...and my body...it's becoming more like you, I think."

"I'm sorry for asking," Hazel apologized again. 

"Don't worry about it," Will said. He looked down at the table, smiled at one of her pictures. "Who'd you draw?"

"My dad..." Hazel set her book down. 

"It's really good," Will congratulated. "I...I do hope you can live with him again soon."

Hazel smiled at him, and suddenly she was the innocent little girl Nico had been telling him about. "Thank you, Will."

Will nodded, about to leave again when his eyes caught the cover of her book. "You read Luke Castellan?"

Hazel nodded. 

"That's amazing!" Will sat in the free chair. "I thought they'd be difficult for someone your age. But that book is full of short stories, so I guess it is easier. Which one's your favorite?"

Hazel seemed to be more relaxed. "Dark Moon."

Will nodded at her. "That's a good one. It actually was the start of a full book."

An idea seemed to pop up in Hazel's head as she grabbed the book and flipped to one of the many pages marked by sticky notes. "Do you know what this word means, since you've read it?"

Will looked at where she was pointing. "Oh, that's 'hydrangea'. It's a flower."

Hazel repeated the word to herself multiple times before grabbing a notebook and writing in it. "Hydrangea...a flower."

Will nodded. "Any others?"

Hazel flipped to another page. "This one!"

Will sat by her on the couch. "Oh, that's a hard one. It's ' _verglas_ '. It's French. But another way you can say it is 'glazing'. It's a pretty word, huh?"

Hazel's eyes widened. "I've heard glazing before." She grabbed her notebook and wrote her notes about ' _verglas_ '.

"Do you always take notes when you read?" Will asked, unaware that Nico was standing outside the room, listening in with a rare smile on his face.

Hazel nodded. "Mom doesn't want to send me to school, so this is how I learn."

"Smart." Will read over her notes, somewhat impressed with how nice her handwriting was. It was almost as if she had come from back in time when everyone wrote in that fancy cursive. "Hey, I have an idea. How about I teach you some things every once in a while since you can't go to school? It'll be like your own personal lessons."

"Really?" Hazel asked. "You wouldn't mind?"

Will shook his head, unable to keep the smile off his face. He knew he was going to be able to help, even if it wasn't in a big way. And he wanted to help in any way he could. 

Maybe he couldn't be a doctor like he had always wanted to, but he could still help the innocents who deserved help, innocents on both sides of his half-breed life.


	4. Halfbreeds and Legends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not posting anything in awhile and that this chapter might suck. I wrote it all with a preemie on my lap cause my sister decided to have her baby a month early and bunk with me. Not to mention my laptop broke AGAIN and schoolwork is hell  
> But anyways, love you all and hope you enjoy. Stay safe and healthy

Things were okay for a couple days. Will found that he liked working in the coffee shop with the Stoll cousins, but most especially with Nico. There was just something about him that pulled Will in.

They were ghouls, his human side kept reminding him so. They ate humans, he was once their prey. But sometimes he felt more like a ghoul than a human.

He hated those times. He couldn't stand to think he was losing his humanity, losing who he thought he was. But he couldn't ignore his cravings, or Chiron's gentle reminders, or Nico's beautiful face.

Shit. He was falling for him.

And even though he kind of trusted Nico, he'd never ask him on a date. Not after what happened the last time he asked a boy on a date.

But life had to keep reminding him that things were going to get worse.

Will was working with Nico that day, busy making a pot of coffee when he heard the door jingle. He looked up to greet the new customer, but something about Nico's pale face stopped him.

The new addition to the room was a young man with black hair and surprisingly blue eyes. He wore a red tux, something Will wasn't expecting anyone to wear to a coffee shop, and he was almost as tall as Chiron.

"Dakota." Nico's dark eyes glared at the man before returning back to the bar he had been wiping down. "What do you want?"

"Still as angry as ever," the man, Dakota, teased. "But I guess that's what makes you who you are, Mr. di Angelo."

Nico scowled at the name. "I said to not call me that. It sounds perverted coming from you."

Will raised an eyebrow. An old boyfriend...?

But that would mean Nico was gay.

The thought first made him unbelievably happy, then he cursed himself for feeling that way. Nico...Nico di Angelo didn't act gay.

But here he was, almost a hundred percent convinced that Nico and Dakota used to be a thing.

"You, with the eye patch," Dakota said. "You're new here?" He walked closer to Will and seemed to sniff the air. "What's your name?"

"Will..." Will watched him, his muscles stiff. 

Dakota leaned down and actually did smell his shoulder. "You have a wonderful aroma."

Nico made a shooing motion at Dakota. "You're interfering with our work, pervert. Get lost already."

Dakota smiled at Nico in amusement before clamping a hand on Will's shoulder, still leaned in. "I'll be back some other time to enjoy some of your coffee."

"O-Okay..." Will mumbled.

Dakota walked to the door, his smile never leaving his face as he turned around one last time. "See you later, William."

As soon as the door was closed behind him, Will wiped off his shoulder where he had touched him. "Nico, who was that?"

"Watch out for him, he's a parasite," Nico swore under his breath in what sounded like Italian. It made sense with his last name, and suddenly his faint accent was audible.

Will kept his hand on his shoulder. "He...uh, was he hitting on me?"

Nico shrugged. "Either that or he wants to eat you, you can never be sure with him. Hunger and lust are always too mixed up for him to tell the difference. Just don't go anywhere alone with him and you'll be fine."

Will glanced back at the door. "Was...were you two...?"

Nico threw a broom at him. "Go clean the fucking floor, you moron."

* * *

Nico sat at a restaurant not far from his high school, his water bottle in hand as he listened to Rachel ramble on and on about some boy she was obsessed with. The bagel in front of him made him want to puke, but he hid that away as he was used to.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare was his best friend besides being a human. She had no idea about him being a ghoul, nor did he ever intend for her to find out. But he had known her since freshman year, her also having skipped some grades.

She had bright red hair you could point out in a crowd and green eyes. Her jeans were always covered in paint, and the sweater she was currently wearing looked like it had been knitted by someone's grandmother. She was bi and he was gay, and they had clicked as soon as they met.

"This is the fifth day in a row that you got only a bagel," Rachel said. "Weird obsession?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "They're good, okay?" _Yeah, right. They taste like shit._

"You're seventeen years old, you need to eat more than bagels." Rachel pushed her plate towards the center of the table. "Have a chicken chunk."

Nico sighed. "Rachel, I'm not going to steal your food."

She took the chance with his mouth open and stuffed the piece of chicken in. It was horrible, one of the worst things he had ever tasted, and the sauce that stayed on his lips tasted nothing like blood.

But he hid it, did just as Chiron taught him to do. Swallow it whole, give some fake chews, flash Rachel with a grin (the last something he had learned over the years).

"I could've choked, you know." Nico took a napkin and wiped that horrible sauce off his lips. 

"Yeah, whatever." Rachel ate some more, her eyes on her phone. "Do you work today?"

Nico snorted. "I work like every day, Rach."

"Boo, you whore." It was a quote he recognized from one of the many movies she had made him watch. "I was going to make a big pot of chili, but a different recipe than last. You'll love it. But we can wait for your next day off. When is it?"

Nico took a bite of his bagel, knowing he had to eat at least half of it or she'd worry. "You don't have to wait for me, Rachel. If you want that tonight, have it tonight."

She was obsessed with cooking, especially when it came to new recipes. He was always her taste-tester, and he always told her it was good, that it was amazing. But each bite tasted like shit, just as all human food did.

She ate some more before frowning at a text on her phone. "Dad wants me home. I'll see you tomorrow?"

Nico nodded. "Stay safe."

She dug some money out of her purse and left it on the table. One she kissed the top of his head and threw her jacket on, she was out of the restaurant and down the street.

Nico paid the bill as quickly as he could before dashing towards the bathroom. He waited until he was alone in there before shoving his fingers down his throat, puking his guts out before his stomach could start to dissolve that food.

Unfortunately, every time he saw Rachel ended up like this. But he wasn't going to give up a normal life because of some vomit.

He eventually cleaned up and started the walk back to Big House. He had been living in one of the rooms above the coffee shop since he was twelve. Chiron had saved his life, taking him in like that. Before he had met the older man, Nico had been on his own on the streets, getting into things he never should have, getting stronger and stronger, his kill count growing.

But Chiron had given him a second chance. And he wasn't going to waste it. Since he saw his mother's violent death, the investigators that killed her, all he wanted was a normal life, a human life. And Rachel helped him sort of live that fantasy.

Nico stopped on the corner and waited among others for the sign to switch and allow them across. His hands were deep in the pockets of his aviator jacket, which used to be his father's, and his dark eyes were on the cars passing by. But the conversation from the two teens beside him, which he recognized from school, couldn't be ignored.

"Another attack? God, why are these things around?"

"Because if they all died, it'd be too easy. They're like this century's plague."

"It's disgusting, especially when they fake us and act human. _Disgusting_. There's nothing human about them. They're animals."

"Worse than animals. They don't serve any purpose."

A laugh, the light changing, Nico walking as quickly as he could. 

_Worse than animals, huh?_ His eyes trailed after them. _I could show them-_

His phone cut into his inner monologue. He glanced down at the text and back up again, but they were already out of sight.

Well damn.

* * *

The weather was great, the best in weeks. On his lunch break, Will walked down to the nearby park and sat at a picnic table. He held open Luke Castellan's new book with one hand and held a coffee in the other, taking in the breeze and the fresh air while he had the chance. Peace.

"Will, hi!"

Will jumped, his head snapping up to see who had spoken. Dakota was across from him, wearing a purple vest and tight white pants.

"Uh...hi..."

"Dakota Wellington," he introduced. His lips were stained red.

"Um...so...what are you doing here?" Will asked. This was not how he expected to see this man again.

Dakota leaned forward and leaned his head on his hand. "Well... I'm here to see you."

Will blushed, but he in no way was attracted to this man. Everything Nico had told him came to mind. He was a gourmet. He wasn't going on a date with another crazy ghoul.

"You like reading?" Dakota's eyes had found their way to his forgotten book. "I find it quite enjoyable, as well. It just...takes you to another world, you know? It helps you forget all the troubles in your life, almost like a cheap form of therapy. And god knows we all need at least a little therapy."

Will raised an eyebrow. "You like books," he summed up.

Dakota played with some wood coming up from the table. "Books have helped me get through some hard times."

Will thought back to his own life, his love for the author Luke Castellan, how he always had his nose in one of his books, how it actually had helped. Most importantly, it helped when he became an orphan.

"You like Castellan?" Dakota asked. 

Will nodded, and before he could help it, he felt himself start to ramble about his favorite author. "The way he has with words...I haven't found it in any other author, I swear. He writes with so much emotion, you feel like you're standing in the scene, like you're bleeding with the characters. And then there's what he writes about, the truths, the thin line between right and wrong, how easily it can blur. Every book he releases I buy right away."

Dakota smiled at him. "I agree. Completely. Especially _Red Snow_. It was one of his most beautiful works." His eyes widened as if a thought came to mind. "Hey, there's this cafe not far from Big House. The owner's just in love with books as we are, and sometimes Luke Castellan stops by. I've met him a few times."

Will's eyes widened. "You've really met him?"

Dakota nodded. "As sad and broken as you expected the author of those books to be. So, what do you think?"

"I..." Will hesitated. "Oh, um..."

Dakota's face fell. "Nico said something to you, didn't he?"

"No, well-"

"It's okay, I'm used to it." Dakota stood up. "Once you have an ex, not to mention having my reputation, everyone misunderstands. I wasn't hitting on you, Will. I just wanted a friend. There are not many ghouls interested in books. The last one... Bryce Lawrence, and, well, everyone knows what happened to him."

Instincts were screaming at him, but Will grabbed his arm. "Hey, I'd love to be friends."

* * *

Saturday at five. He wasn't sure if he should be worried or not. But he didn't tell anyone, especially not Nico. Who knows what he would do if he found out.

Will got off work at eight that night. What he wasn't expecting was for Thanatos to be waiting outside for him. The taller man didn't say a word like usual, but he made it clear to follow him into a car.

They drove out of the city, and Will would have been freaking out if Chiron hadn't trusted him.

Thanatos parked next to an old bridge and led Will below it. Around them was all concrete, and there were no living souls in sight. Isolation. Fear.

"Where are we?" Will asked.

Thanatos threw him a duffel bag. "Change out of that uniform. Make it snappy."

Will blinked. "Why?"

"You can't train in dress pants and a vest."

Train? Will stared at him, but Thanatos wasn't providing any more answers. He leaned against a column and closed his eyes, his arms crossed.

Will changed, he had nothing else to do. The gym clothes that were packed were short but fit well enough.

"Whose are these?" Will asked, stuffing his work clothes in the bag before throwing it to the side.

"Nico's, he let you borrow them for the night. Next time, you're bringing your own." Thanatos opened his eyes and regained his posture. "Gods are crawling around the city. Your mask is being made, but you need to know how to protect yourself." Thanatos took his trench coat off and set it aside, a habit Will had noticed from Nico and his aviator jacket many times. Maybe even ghouls had favorite clothes.

"So-"

"We'll train!" Thanatos advanced too quickly, way too quickly. Will backed up and tried to dodge, but soon enough he was out of breath and on the ground.

"You can't attack, but you're fair at dodging," Thanatos commented. "You'll come with me here on workdays and I'll train you. If you forget your clothes you'll be stuck with Nico's, so you have no excuses to bail."

Will held onto his stomach and tried to regain his breathing. He had gotten blood on Nico's clothes. But damn were they comfortable.

"Come on," Thanatos put his trench coat back on. "I also have someone for you to meet."

Will struggled to his feet and grabbed the bag. He was too out of shape. "Who?"

Thanatos walked to the car in silence.

* * *

Will wasn't expecting a bar in the Bronx.

Thanatos led him in, it well after dark by then. There were only two people in the building, one Will recognizing as Leo Valdez. The other was a woman around Leo's age, with brown hair tied in a braid and eyes he couldn't quite tell the color of. Her red shirt was slightly see-through, and if he hadn't been gay, it probably would have sent heat to his waist. 

"Will Solace!" Leo looked over from where he sat at the bar. "Come to meet Piper?"

Piper pulled Will into the barstool beside her. "You're Will? I've heard all about you from Leo here. I'm Piper McLean, I own this place. It's nice to meet you."

Will glanced over at Thanatos, who was sitting nearby as comfortable as ever. "Uh...nice to meet you..."

"Relax, we're all ghouls here." Piper leaned back against Leo but stayed facing Will. "We're all friends here."

Leo groaned. "I'm not an armchair, Pipes."

"Sh, you're fine."

Will looked over as Thanatos went in a back room, coming back with what looked to be a glass of wine but probably blood. "How do you all know each other?"

"We go way back." Piper huffed when Leo pushed her off him. "Leo and Thanny didn't get along at first, but that's because Leo's basically a pyromaniac."

Will almost snorted at Thanatos's nickname. Almost. But he was still pretty scared of the guy.

"That was not the reason," Leo denied. "It was because he gets so angry, and you know how he has those bursts. Just like Nico when he's angry."

Piper laughed. "Dude, you're right. They're so similar."

"Enough talk about me," Thanatos snapped. "You asked me to bring him here for a reason, Piper."

"Right, I completely forgot." Piper hopped behind the bar and landed perfectly despite her high heels. She grabbed a bottle from beneath the bar and poured some of the red liquid into a cup. "Here, Will, this is for you."

Will stared at it. "If that's wine, I'm only nineteen."

Piper rolled her eyes before leaning over, spilling it over his head before he had a chance to back up. 

And he smelled the blood. He felt his eye change.

Piper snatched his eye patch and smiled. "Leo wasn't lying. You have one ghoul eye." She threw a towel at Will. "I can't believe it."

"Told you," Leo gestured to the bottle. "Get me some." 

Piper poured Leo a cup and handed it over. "Sorry, Will. I just wanted to see."

Will finally got over his shock and covered his red eye, his other hand gripping onto the towel.

"As I said, it's only us ghouls here," Piper said. "Don't worry. I wouldn't have done it if it was dangerous." She went over to a coffee pot and came back with a cup full of coffee. "Here, on the house."

Will lowered his hand. "I..." He sighed when he realized he really wasn't in danger and began to clean himself off. His eye still felt horribly wrong.

Piper got back in her seat with her own cup of blood. "Hey, Leo, you think the other one-eye's like that?"

Leo shrugged. "Who knows?"

Will immediately turned to them. "There's someone else like me?"

Piper shrugged. "If a ghoul and human fall in love and sleep together, what do you get?"

Even the mere thought of that happening shocked Will to the core. He had never even begun to think of something like that, the races mixing. "There's...there's halfbreeds?"

Piper shook her head. "You get a corpse. Look, it's pretty rare to even get pregnant. But if you do, that child doesn't have the digestive system of one or the other. They die of a lack of nutrition. But sometimes, one's born."

"Half-ghoul, half-human?" Will asked.

Piper nodded. "Halfbloods are so much stronger than full-blooded ones, who knows why. And the one I'm talking about, he only has one eye. But this stuff is basically legend."

Leo was busy making something, his hands flying away on Piper's other side. "Or so they say."

Will looked between them. "I...I'm sorry if I'm new to this ghoul stuff. The only reason I even am one is because of Bryce Lawrence. Do...do you know anything about him? I just...this is all his fault and I only really know his name. I don't know anything about him, but I..." He thought back to when he saw Bryce after he had died, when those urges were the strongest. "It's like he's a part of me, almost."

Piper shared a look with Leo. "Bryce Lawrence, huh? Well, no one knows why he died. That accident wasn't an accident if you haven't put that together yet. Someone dropped that crane on the both of you."

"Piper," Thanatos warned.

"Everyone's talking about it," Piper continued. She looked genuinely interested. "People think someone was up there, someone dropped that crane. They had the intent to kill Bryce, or-"

"Piper!" Thanatos barked.

"Fine, fine, geez." Piper took a drink. "You bring him here to talk and don't let me say anything."

Will looked at her and Thanatos, and then at Leo who seemed to be tuning them out, building whatever. Someone...someone had been there that day, the day his life had changed. But who...

* * *

"Will, you okay?"

Will snapped out of his thoughts and focused back in on Dakota across from him. Not even the fear of being alone with Dakota Wellington could stop his mind from wandering to that night, with Bryce...

Who had saved him? Had it been an ulterior motive?

"I just..." Will warmed his hands on his coffee cup. "I was just wondering...what did you talk to Bryce about? Did you know him well?"

Dakota shrugged. "I don't know if you can call it well. We talked about books... We talked about eating, dining."

Anger crossed Dakota's face in a shadow. Will barely could tell what it was until the older man crushed his coffee cup in hand.

"Dakota?" Will leaned over to help get his hands out of the danger zone, but one of the glass shards cut into his hand. "Shit!"

"Damn, damn, sorry." Dakota pulled a small handkerchief from his pocket and held it to Will's bleeding hand. "Are you okay?"

Will nodded. "Just a cut, I'm fine."

Dakota helped him soak up the blood before taking the handkerchief back. "I'll throw it in the wash later. I'm sorry for getting worked up."

"It's okay, really," Will assured him. "Just a cut." He had been bitten, had organs transplanted into him. He had been through way worse. 

"You were wondering about Bryce..." Dakota started. "He had a favorite hangout not far from here. Let me show you, it'll be my apology. I don't know what you're looking for when it comes to his life, but maybe it'll help."

Will smiled. Maybe hanging out with Dakota was a good thing, after all.

* * *

Dakota stood at the bathroom sink, staring at his reflection with the ghost of a smile on his face. He had almost slipped up a few times, but he had succeeded. Will Solace was playing right into his hands.

He looked down at the bloody handkerchief in his hands. Will Solace's blood...it was the best thing he had ever smelled. _Ever._

It was heavenly.

That savory scent.

The highest level of food

he had to taste amazing


	5. Gourmet Dinner

Will's instincts were yelling at him the moment they pulled up to the mansion. Bryce's favorite place...well, he could see how the man could have been a diva. He wanted to know more about him, either way. He wanted to know who the man really was when he saw him during those horrible moments, the starvation, when he almost ate Cecil.

Maybe if he knew him, he could control him.

But something was fishy. He realized that right away. Human instincts or ghoul, they were there. And they told him to run the fuck away and never look back.

But he ignored them. In the past, he never knew what was instinct and what was his anxiety. Maybe it was just his anxiety, he was somewhere new, his life was changing at hyper speed.

Besides, he felt bad for Dakota. Maybe he was just a misunderstood ghoul, like himself.

Then he was forced to take a shower. _Wash up good_ , Dakota had said. _Make yourself presentable_. Was it really that fancy of a place?

They took his old clothes and left him a suit to wear. It was the first time he ever wore one.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, a masked maid led him into a dining room. Her mask and attitude were as expressionless as it could get. He wasn't even sure if she was alive or just a robot. Not a word spoken, nothing conversed. She set a cup of coffee in front of him and left him alone.

Sighing, Will sat at the table and sipped at the coffee. He would rather be hanging out with Nico, or just watching him... Yeah, that sounded stalkerish. But something about Nico lifted his mood in mere seconds.

He wanted to leave. He didn't want to be there anymore.

Then the fucking floor started raising as if he was in some kind of fucking game show. The ceiling opened up above him, and in minutes he was standing in the largest room he'd ever seen.

Spotlights danced around him. He could hear murmuring. But all he noticed was the blood and body parts covering the floor around him.

Then the spotlights were on him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've been waiting for!" A man's voice filled the room. "Without further ado, I present our main dish!"

No. Fucking no. Will was not going to almost be fucking eaten again-!

Dakota. He had tricked him.

Fuck.

"Our meal tonight is unusual but quite unique!" the man continued. "Tonight, we'll be feasting on ghoul!"

The audience was silent. Will's legs were shaking. Nico wasn't around to save him this time.

"A ghoul? I'm not up for cannibalism," one woman said. Another man agreed with her. It almost fucking made Will laugh, and it would have if he hadn't been about to piss himself.

"Tonight's dinner is brought to you by none other than Mr. Dakota Wellington!"

Will looked up to where the beam of light pointed and looked the traitor in the face. Dakota was in a white suit, as smug as he was while talking to Nico, a masked girl on each arm.

"When I first met this young man," Dakota said into the microphone, "I noticed his scent immediately. Though he is a ghoul, the smell of human blood still runs through his veins. That mixture..."

The crowd was on his side, Will and Dakota were both able to tell. Will glared up at him, tried to get some strength in his veins, tried to make those things come from his back... Nothing.

The lights came on, the spotlights disappeared. Will felt like he was looking Death himself in the face.

"And now, the scrapper who will be serving our meal!" Dakota introduced. He flung his hand toward the opposite end of the arena, where a door was peeling open, and Will found it in himself to wonder how this all fit in the architecture of the mansion.

That thought evaporated just as quickly when he saw the man bounding out of that door. Larger than any man Will had ever seen, covered in muscles, holding a fucking machete. He still couldn't believe it was coming for him.

But that's how his life was now, wasn't it? The world got sick of punishing him and just decided to end him. Bryce tried first and he failed, so now it was up to this man, the scrapper as Dakota called him.

Karma. What the fuck had he done to deserve this?

He had tried to eat Cecil, something he'd never forgive himself for. But the world had already started punishing him long before that encounter. Was it just karma for something it knew he'd do in the future?

The man got too close. Despite his shaking legs, Will ran like hell. But there wasn't anywhere to run to. The arena held no escape.

He tripped and fell into a pool of blood. When he tried to move his legs, the fucking useless limbs wouldn't move an inch. A skull grinned at him from beside them.

The fucking coffee. Poisoned.

Dakota was smart as hell, he had to give him that. Manipulative, but smart as hell.

Scrapper picked him up by the neck, those huge hands wringing and wringing, air escaping. Will never thought this would be how he would go. He never expected death like this, this early, this gruesome, this public. People were watching, people were cheering.

He was being executed.

Cecil wouldn't even be able to bury his body.

Chiron would shake his head and whisper "another one gone". Nico would mutter that he was a jackass and get back to work. Clarisse would ask why she couldn't have been the one to do it.

Only Cecil would truly mourn for him. Piper and Leo probably wouldn't even notice.

There was no air, his lungs were burning. His vision was dotting and his body was trying to fight back, but there was nothing a weak human could do against this ghoul.

But he wasn't just a weak human. Not anymore.

His vision was almost gone when he felt his eye change. There were gasps, he was sure of it, but he couldn't dwell on them. Not when Bryce almost took over.

Maybe Bryce was his ghoul instincts.

He punched Scrapper as hard as he could and the man went flying. Will fell to the floor and started to slam his fists into his legs, trying to get them to move, to work, because he didn't want to give Bryce control, but he wasn't sure what else he could do.

He just wanted to live.

The man was coming towards him again, machete raised, muscles bulging. The crowd was cheering for his death like it was a soccer match. His legs wouldn't move.

The man stopped about a foot away, the crowd gasped. Will wasn't entirely sure what had happened until he looked around the giant, his face paling even more when he saw that Dakota had punched through the scrapper's back.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Dakota apologized, "I'm sorry for all the commotion. I never imagined that he would be a one-eyed ghoul." His voice lowered. "He's mine." He then raised it again. "But this is a feast, is it not? You will all still eat."

He pushed another hand through the man, and pulled, and pushed, and blood splattered the two of them as he walked through the man's torn-apart corpse.

Blood. Dakota's white suit had been stained red.

Will couldn't fucking believe what he just saw.

But nothing stopped the blood from smelling good. He could feel Bryce bubbling to the surface.

"We'll dine on the scrapper instead," Dakota grinned, that horrible grin, his eyes never leaving Will. 

With the crowd pleased, Dakota knelt in front of Will, his voice low enough to be just between them, that air of manipulation back again.

"I'm sorry if I scared you." He was calm. He was fucking calm after all that. "It was supposed to be a joke between us. I hope you don't hold it against me."

What. The. Fuck.

Talk about fucking mood swings. Manipulation. He didn't even know a word that fit Dakota's actions.

It was just...Dakota. And Will hated it.

He just wanted to go home.

* * *

Will jumped awake from another nightmare, all involving Dakota, that arena, the lone skull and other bones he had seen. Dakota ripping a body in half and walking through it. Bryce being near.

"I'm glad to see you awake," Chiron stated from the corner of the room. Will looked around to see that he was in one of the many rooms above Big House. "Ever since you came stumbling in here after that feast, you've never been too conscious."

Will looked down at his hands. Someone had washed all the blood off. But he still smelled it, he always would.

"How are you feeling?" Chiron asked.

Will shrugged. "I..." He gulped. "I'm going to listen to what Nico says from now on."

Chiron laughed. "That's a good idea. And speaking of Nico, I think you should visit him. His quarters are only a couple doors down, after all." He went to leave the room but stopped. "I almost forgot. I'll let you have a day or two off, until you're feeling normal again."

Will nodded. "But...why visit Nico?"

Chiron smiled. "He doesn't have many friends his age, not ghouls. Neither do you. I think it'll be good for both of you. Plus he's been feeling a little under the weather."

"Yeah, okay..."

Will pulled himself off the couch as Chiron left the room. His legs worked, but not as they did the night he ran to Big House, soaked in blood, sobbing. They had been shaking, had been still coming out of the effects of the drug. Now they were as good as ever.

He looked at his fingernails. No blood. Whoever had cleaned him off had done a hell of a job.

The moment he decided to run here of all places, that's when he realized that this was his new home. This was where he felt comfortable, accepted. A ghoul spot in a human world.

Not to mention it had Nico di Angelo.

Will took a moment to compose himself before going and knocking on the door labeled 'di Angelo' he had seen before but never entered. Nico's space was his own world, his own home. It felt...weird going into it.

But he was still excited.

Just as he was about to knock again Marie Levesque opened it, her back to him as she talked to someone within the room. "Thanks again for watching her, Nico. I appreciate it. Just keep her safe."

"Will do." Nico's voice. "Stay safe, Marie."

"Bye, mom!" Hazel called.

"Be good for Nico, Hazel." Marie waved before turning to leave, stopping when she saw Will. "Oh, I'm sorry Will. I didn't see you there."

"No problem, have a good day, Mrs. Levesque."

She smiled at him before walking off, leaving him to slip into the room before Nico could say otherwise. And it was more of an apartment than anything. Kitchen area, living area, a hallway going off.

Hazel was sitting on a couch, drawing something with crayons. Nico stood against the kitchen counter, that brown aviator jacket on above a black tank top, black pajama pants.

It was silent as Will took a seat on one of the couches. Something about the situation said that he never should have caught sight of Nico in pajamas. He could tell the jacket being on was only because he had visitors.

"So...what do you want?" Nico asked, breaking the silence.

Will cleared his throat. "I heard you weren't feeling well..."

Nico rolled his eyes. "I just ate too much. I'll put some coffee on."

Will froze. Ate too much of what...?

"Will, can you come here?" Hazel asked.

"Huh?" Will looked over at her before sitting beside her. "What's up?"

She pointed to a line in a book she had beside her coloring book. "I don't know this word, either."

He helped her with her vocabulary for a few minutes before a small knock came from the door. He looked up to see if Nico was expecting anyone, but the younger boy seemed just as confused.

"Who is it?!" he called through the door.

Another voice. Female. "Rachel, now let me in you ass!"

Nico sighed and threw the door open. "There's a child in here, watch your language."

Will poked his head around Nico to see who this girl was and what she was doing visiting Nico's home. Maybe he was being protective, or jealous, or whatever.

Rachel, however Nico knew her, was pretty and around his age. She was holding a container of something and had paint-splattered clothing. "You missed school today."

Nico sighed. "I texted you, you knew I wasn't feeling well-"

"That's why I finally made that chili." Rachel stuffed the container in Nico's hands before catching sight of Will. "Uh...Nico? Who's this?"

Nico froze. "Um...that's just Will, he, uh..."

"Oh, I get it," she smirked. "Share that chili with Will. Text me about it later. I'll be going."

"Woah, Rach, you've got the wrong idea-"

Rachel waved at them before closing the door, her footsteps being heard walking down the hall and then downstairs.

Nico stood there, the container in his hands, his eyes staring at the door where she had been. Will had first thought she was his girlfriend, but judging by her reaction, Nico really was gay after all.

Will almost did a tap dance.

Nico glanced over at Will before taking the container to the kitchen counter. Will followed right behind him, his eyes on something he once would have loved. Chili, Rachel had said, and he saw how great it looked when Nico removed the lid. But he knew as soon as he put it in his mouth it'd come right out.

"What are you going to do with it all?" Will asked.

Nico opened a drawer and grabbed a spoon. "What do you do with food, you idiot? I'm going to eat it."

Will blinked. "You know that's going to make you feel worse, right?"

"Rachel slaved over it for me, I'm not trashing it." Nico did the last thing Will expected him to do. He threw the spoon aside and just started to drink the thick chili.

Fuck. That's what he had been eating too much of. He honestly didn't know how Nico could do it.

* * *

Will was walking home from another day of training with Thanatos when he saw Clarisse again. But instead of her trying to eat his insides, he found her half bleeding out in an alleyway.

There were a couple dead bodies around her. She didn't have a mask like Nico said ghouls should wear during fights. She was laying with her head propped up, blood coming from her mouth and stomach and pooling around her.

"Clarisse?" Will knew what had happened with her last time. He remembered Cecil's almost-dying moment. But he couldn't walk away from someone that was injured.

Will blessed himself despite not being religious and crept down the alley. "Clarisse, what happened?"

"You son of a bitch..." she groaned. "Why does it have to be you?"

Will knelt beside her. "What happened?"

She glared up at him, but there was so much blood... She gestured to the bodies around them. "Ghouls. They wanted to eat another ghoul. I could have taken them just fine if I wasn't still weak from beating your ass."

Will wouldn't have remembered it like that, but he helped her sit up. "Come on, I'll help you home."

She didn't have much room to fight it, but she damn well tried. But before they both knew it, he was helping her walk home. She told him where to go, he helped her move, other than directions it was silent.

They finally got to an apartment, and before Will could even knock, a young man threw the door open with one of the most worried looks he had ever seen.

"Clarisse! Where have you been?!" he grabbed Clarisse from Will and carried her in the apartment. "You're hurt again."

Clarisse let him lay her on the floor. "I was starving, it was driving me insane."

The man suddenly realized Will was still there and looked up. Anger crossed his face, and he moved to stand up but Clarisse stopped him.

"Chris," she said, "let him go."

Chris clenched his fists. "But he...isn't he...?"

"The ass that turned my stomach inside out? Yeah..." Clarisse passed out with her head in Chris's lap.

"Shit..." Chris picked her up before looking to Will. "Come in for some coffee, you brought her home alive. I want to thank you. Close and lock the door behind you."

Will did as he was told and watched as Chris laid Clarisse on the couch. Will could see her wounds healing, the skin stitching itself together like ghoul skin did. 

Chris gestured to the kitchen and Will followed, sitting at the table when instructed to do so. Chris made Will a cup of coffee and placed it in front of him before grabbing himself a beer from the fridge.

A beer...

"You're human?" Will asked.

Chris sat across from him and nodded. "I guess she hasn't talked about me like she's ranted about you. I'm Chris Rodriquez, 19. And yes, I'm human."

Chris had dark hair and brown eyes and was most definitely above six feet. There was something in his origin...maybe Hispanic? Will couldn't be sure in the dim lighting.

"You're a human..." Will repeated. "And you're with a ghoul?"

"I fell in love with her before I knew, and when I found out...well, as I said, I had fallen in love." Chris smiled. "I guess she changed my opinion on ghouls."

"Even if she kills people?" Will asked.

Chris shrugged. "I mean...she has to eat, right? I try not to think about it, and I know she'd never kill anyone close to me." His gaze dropped. "You're a ghoul, right?"

Will nodded and then froze when he realized he did. A ghoul... He was growing, maybe, or just getting used to his situation. But he had never fully accepted what he was like that before.

"I need your help," Chris pleaded. "She needs to eat and she's always injured. I want to provide for her...but I'm human, I can't."

Will thought back to Chiron and Big House, how they helped ghouls in need, how he handed him some flesh and told him to come back if he needed more.

"I'll handle it," Will promised. "I'll be by with something for her to eat."

Chris blinked. "You...really?"

Will nodded before glancing at a nearby clock. "I should be going though, it's late."

Chris nodded. "I have to run to the store anyway. Will...thank you. You're not the ass she described you as."

* * *

Will went back to Big House, Chris went to the store. Chris didn't make it ten minutes before he was gagged and bound, and Will crept around the quiet and dark coffee shop with a horrible feeling in his gut.

It only intensified when he heard the slight tapping on the window. And when he looked, there was a wineglass of blood sitting on top of a folded note.

Will opened the window and grabbed the note, letting the blood spill from the overturned glass. Something was wrong.

_Will, come and share a most amazing dinner at midnight. The man you were speaking in the kitchen with earlier will certainly delight in your appearance._

Nothing more but an address.

A knock on the door came at the right time. He ran and threw it open to find Clarisse standing there, leaning against the doorjamb, her hands around her stomach.

"Chris...he never came home," she panted. "He never came home."


	6. Devil in the Church

Will stepped into the abandoned church with a weak Clarisse at his side, his hands shaking and heart pounding. Dakota was sitting at a piano near the front, and on the alter, Chris was bound and gagged. Will wasn't even sure if he was conscious or not.

"You're going to die for this, Wellington!" Clarisse yelled.

Dakota stood from the piano and crossed his arms. "I didn't invite you."

"Just give him back to me," Clarisse snarled. "You claim to be a gourmet while really you're just a sick fuck that gets bored of eating the same way day in and day out. If you want Will, he's right here. But Chris didn't do anything to you."

"Hey," Will protested weakly.

"You're not getting him back," Dakota smirked. "She's part of this dinner, as I said in my note. Will will feast on her as I feast on him. That is my favorite-"

"Kink?" Nico's laugh. Will looked up to see him perched on one of the beams. "You know, Dakota, this is one of the reasons I left you."

"And what do you think you're doing here?" Dakota asked.

Nico jumped down from the beam and landed beside Clarisse and Will. "Heard them talking, it woke me up. I just needed to change and then I was following."

Will couldn't have been more relieved to see him. "What, can't fight in your pajamas?"

Nico scowled as he took his aviator jacket off and laid it across one of the pews. "Dakota, give the guy back or I'll make you."

"You say it like this is all my fault." Dakota stayed planted between them and the alter.

"Who else's would it be?" Nico demanded.

Dakota snarled. "His, of course!" He pointed at Will. "William, this is all your fault! Do you not know how tempting you are?"

He stepped forward and went to advance on Will, but Clarisse was quicker. She laid a blow to Dakota's face before almost collapsing, no doubt the wounds and starvation keeping her out of the fight before it could fully begin.

"You're weaker than I thought, Clarisse." Dakota kicked her aside and didn't even bother to watch as she disappeared amidst the cloud of debris and pew-remains she caused. She didn't get back up, and Will knew he had to try to fight, even if he wasn't that good yet. 

But Thanatos had been teaching him. So he ran forward and tried to hit Dakota in any way, but the older man blocked each one before kicking him aside.

And damn, would that leave a bruise.

"You're as clumsy as ever," Dakota shook his head as he stood over Will. "God forbid you ever got into a real fight." He kicked him again, harder, right in the head. Will saw stars.

Then he smelled Nico, and when his vision came back, he saw the scratch across Dakota's face, splitting his eyeballs in half, his smirk still there but now covered in blood.

"You shouldn't have touched him." Nico kicked Will to the side in a gentle manner before standing in front of Dakota. "You're not eating him or Chris tonight. I know Clarisse and Will aren't much, but it's still three against one. Give it up. If not, I'll stick my foot so far up you'll ass you won't be able to eat for weeks."

Will almost whistled. Nico was _hot_. Especially in that muscle shirt and skinny jeans. But then he looked at Dakota, saw his face and eyes had already healed, and he lost his morale again.

"You're getting weaker," Dakota teased. "Usually it would take more than ten seconds to heal from one of your attacks."

Nico didn't answer but instead changed again. He was fast, hopping about, kicking and punching, and never using his styx.

"Still as fast as ever, however," Dakota spit as they broke apart. "Just like that summer we met. You were fourteen, I was seventeen. Your eyes were the same, broken and dark. It was the summer I fell for you."

"Are you trying to make me throw up?" Nico asked. "Is that your tactic?"

Dakota didn't answer but fled forward so violently Nico couldn't block him, and he punched Nico so hard he went flying into the back wall and didn't come out.

"Ah, finally, I need a taste to keep this going." Dakota walked over to Will, who was still holding his head and hoping he didn't have a concussion.

Will tried to fight him, he did. He even got one punch in before Dakota stabbed his hand through Will's stomach just as Clarisse had once done. 

Blood filled Will's mouth. Dakota brought his bloodied hand to his mouth and licked some of the blood, his eyes widening as he finally tasted what he had been addicted to eating.

"Amazing," he breathed. "Amazing!" He looked to the altar where Chris still laid and smiled. "Let's get this party going."

Nico jumped from the shadows as Dakota advanced to the alter, but his kick was blocked by Dakota's arm before he even had time to see it coming. 

"What has lit that flame in your eyes?" Dakota asked. "I always told you they were more beautiful dead and cold." His styx grew from his back, somewhat resembling Clarisse's, purple and flexible as he curled around his arm before stabbing through Nico's upper stomach. Way too close to his chest...

Will tried to move, tried to do anything to protect him. But his stomach was in the same state.

"It's rude to disrupt someone's dinner." Dakota watched as Nico fell to the floor, kicked him a few times, and walked to the altar.

"Don't touch him!" Will managed to sit up, felt his guilt fueling him. "I'm the one you want, not him!"

"Don't you listen?" Dakota glared back at him. "I want you to eat him while I eat you."

Will made a little noise, especially when he remembered that Nico had called it a kink. Sarcastic and kidding or not, it was the elephant in the room.

Dakota moved to take Chris's shirt off, no doubt preparing his body to be eaten, but stopped when he saw the scar of Chris's shoulder. "And what is this from?"

Clarisse was desperately trying to pull herself to her feet. Her whole body shook from the effort. "Chris..."

_Clarisse could remember when she was a child, homeless along with her older brother Sherman, scavenging around for food of any kind. She stood beside him one night and saw a body for the first time, her childlike innocence disappearing in the blink of a light._

_"I...I have to eat them?" she asked._

_Sherman looked up from where he was crouched beside that body, his eyes red but usually brown, his dark hair cut short. "You always eat them. I just usually bring you pieces."_

_She ate off the body with him simply because her hunger was overpowering._

_Sherman was finally old enough to get a job when she was ten, and they got a small shack near the city's limits. Her memories connected those days to chasing fireflies, making blanket forts, watching him go off with that girlfriend of his._

_She watched every morning as he went off to work for years. She listened to him talk about his girlfriend over coffee, how he wanted to tell her he was a ghoul, how he wanted to marry her. She warned him it was a bad idea from the beginning. But he was happy, and that made her happy._

_Clarisse was sixteen as she watched from the shadows, saw her brother propose to the girl of her dreams. She was sixteen when she saw her brother tell that girl the truth. She was sixteen when she went on the run because that girl told. She was sixteen when her brother was murdered because of the betrayal of the one he loved._

_She was sixteen when she told herself that all humans were evil, that she couldn't trust any of them, that they were nothing more than cattle to her._

_She killed the woman that had turned him in. Who wouldn't?_

_Clarisse was seventeen when she met Chris Rodriquez. Use him, her mind told her. He could be useful. So she fake befriended him as the days went on._

_Then she found herself looking forward to their dates, the coffee breaks, found herself smiling in his presence. The seasons changed, and she found herself in bed with him.  
She fell in love with him, she admitted it when she was nineteen. And he loved her. Everything was perfect._

_Then Will Solace came around and stabbed her through the stomach, she laid on her bed gasping for breath, bleeding through the sheets, her eyes red and her control gone.  
And Chris walked in the room, saw her for what she really was. And she bit into his shoulder because there was no way to hold herself back._

_His noises of pain brought her back. His shaking hands. His fear._

_She never should have trusted a human. Never-_

_"You're...you're hungry," he gasped. "Shoulders...don't have a lot to eat. Try my thigh."_

_She pulled from his shoulder and looked at him, really looked at him, with his blood covering her face and his flesh in her mouth. He was in pain, so much pain, but she didn't see any fear anymore. Only love._

Clarisse charged for Dakota with all the anger in her soul, anger at her weak state, anger at her shitty life, at the universe, at the situation.

She placed kick after kick, punch after punch, tried to rip this man apart with her bare hands. But she wasn't getting through, and she took more hits, more kicks, and she felt her newfound energy fading.

A stab, more hits. She hit the floor hard.

Nico's bloodied hand came from nowhere and grabbed Will's shoulder, using it to pull himself into a seated position. Blood dripped from his mouth and stained his shirt. "That's...why I took my jacket off. Damn it, all of Rachel's food I've been eating... I'm this fucking weak because I haven't been eating what I should be."

Will watched as Dakota beat whatever Clarisse had left out of her, his addiction to food or blood or whatever destroying whatever morals he ever had.

"Chris is all I have..." Clarisse stuck out a hand again and grabbed Dakota's pant leg, unable to do anything else but keep the threats up. "Touch him and I'll kill you...I'll kill you... He's all I have."

"Nico," Will whispered. "If you were at full strength, could you beat him?"

"What kind of question is that?" Nico asked. "Of course. We were even back then. I've grown a lot, changed. I could take him."

Will felt bile rising in his mouth. "And flesh will get you back to full strength, right?"

Nico nodded. "But I don't see any dead bodies around unless you count what Clarisse is about to be."

Will moved his hoodie off his shoulder. "Take a bite."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "It'll get him pissed as hell."

"Use his anger against him."

Nico scooched closer to Will. "Hey, Dakota!" When Dakota's eyes were on him, he leaned down and took a bite from Will's shoulder.

Pain. Will felt his whole body shaking, telling him to fight back against Nico. But this was the only way...

" _He's mine_!" Dakota screamed, his styx extending for Nico, aiming for the kill. Anger seemed to roll off him in waves.

Will let Nico push him aside and watched as those dark eyes turned red and those beautiful styx grew from his back. Wings of fire, of red and purple and other warm colors. Will had only seen them once before but knew they were what he had been waiting for.

Nico blocked Dakota easily and tied his hair back. "He will never be yours. Not a single thing here will ever be yours."

Will crawled to Clarisse's side and checked her pulse. Still alive, though he wasn't sure how. He pulled her to cover behind the altar and then pulled Chris's unconscious form down with them, watching as Nico fought Dakota.

Nico's wings could turn to replaceable spikes at any given moment. Whenever any of them were shot and hit Dakota's skin, the sliced through as if he was made of butter. They always replaced themselves, the fire of his wings never died.

Will worked on untying Chris's bonds and tried not to notice the pain. But his blood loss despite his ghoul super healing was making him shaky. And then Nico, he was still getting hurt. It seemed every time Will poked his head up to see, Nico had more wounds and more blood oozing out.

But then he pulled Dakota's arm so hard the whole limb came flying off, along with all the blood inside it and the tendons and muscles and shit that held it on.

"There, I was getting a little behind," Nico wheezed. 

Dakota hissed. "This...is going to take an awfully long time to heal..." He turned around and began to look for Will, and Will noticed that one of his eyes was also gone. "Will, just one bite-"

Nico's wing solidified and stabbed through his back, and then he was on the floor.

"If you want to live, you'll have to eat your own damn flesh," Nico growled. "You shitty gourmet. I should have left you long before I did."

"Chris..."

Nico and Will both looked over to see Clarisse somehow sitting up and bringing Chris's head into her lap. "You're safe. I'm here."

Chris's eyes opened, fluttered, and landed on his girlfriend's bloodied face. "You're hurt."

Clarisse huffed. "You know I'm strong. I can take this shit."

"Clarisse." Nico stepped over Dakota's still body and moved to the rest of them, who were still grouped behind the altar. His eyes remained red and his styx stayed out, and Will then knew what Nico was thinking. It must have been actually seeing Chris awake that sparked it.

"Move aside," Nico ordered.

"Nico," Will tried.

"Clarisse, she knows about you and Will, right?" Nico asked. "It's too dangerous. I can't let her go."

Clarisse stood between them, her back to Chris, her shaking arms spread. "Over my dead body."

"Yeah, well, that's soon enough-"

"Nico!" Will stood. "Nico, don't. He's like Cecil for me, or Rachel for you. You can't kill her. What if it was Rachel, not Chris? Would you be able to kill her-"

"Shut up!" Nico growled. "I _have_ to!"

Chris sat up and groaned from whatever Dakota had knocked him out with, but when his eyes landed on Nico and his styx, he looked on with awe. "It's...beautiful."

Frozen. Nobody dared breathe. Nico stared at him without a single emotion, then Will thought he saw a tear, and then Nico was gone, out there nearest window and out of sight.

Nico sat on the church and watched the three help each other out, able to feel his red eyes, the fury in them, that spark Dakota had commented on. He could feel his styx, couldn't count how many people it had killed.

Its light was illuminating the roof around him. Tears streamed from his eyes.

"How...how is a monster beautiful to a human?"


	7. The Thin Line Between Right and Wrong

Days passed. Clarisse healed up and came to work at Big House, not giving Will an explanation but having spent an hour talking to Chiron privately. Most definitely it was to protect herself, and in turn, protect Chris.

Nico, however, hadn't come to work. His door was locked and only Hazel and her mother ever seemed to gain entry. Will had tried but always got turned away.

Hazel...she was slowly going insane, yelling at her mother, running from each conversation, crying that she missed her father. Marie did her best to help calm her, but nothing worked, not even her time with Nico. No doubt she was worried, they still hadn't heard from Pluto. But her need to go check on him was turned down by everyone she asked. Even Nico. And that infuriated her.

* * *

A city away Pluto Levesque was finally giving Kronos what he had asked for. The office around them was silent with no patients in sight, and you could feel the tension in the air.

Kronos took the pliers-look-alike in his hands and inspected them, thinking back to when he lost his first pair, when he fought that binge-eater. "I'll get that spoiled boy with these once and for all."

Pluto stood from his desk, his hands in the pockets of his white coat. "Kronos...I need to ask that you don't come around here anymore."

That was his first mistake. Then it was looking at the picture Hazel had drawn for them, their family portrayed by kittens, how innocent it was. 

Kronos killed him with a blow through the chest. Blood spoiled the picture.

But that wasn't the last of it. Just at that moment, two Gods appeared, weapons drawn, having finally figured out where that lethan steel had come from.

Athena Chase and Percy Jackson. Pluto died before he could utter a word at their presence. 

"It looks like that lead paid off, Jackson," Athena commented. Her gloved hand pressed the button on her briefcase, unleashing her weapon. You could maybe call it a sword, but it was thicker, was green, was made of lethan steel.

"Investigator Chase..." Percy's green eyes stared at the man. "That's Kronos...S rated..." He brought his own weapon out, also green, yet weaker than Athena's because of his rank. He thought of his mother as he did every time he faced a new ghoul, thought of the people back home.

As the fight started, Percy took in every bit of information and stimuli. Kronos was strong more than fast, liked to prove his strength by fighting with his hands in his pockets. The office they fought in was definitely the health type, with children's pictures on one wall, another on the floor splattered with blood. 

Who had Kronos killed in there? What child had drawn those pictures, who were they waiting for to come home?

Percy kept attacking. He couldn't stop. Though when fear came, he found himself freezing up.

But Athena always had his back. She was quick, was skilled, never seemed to run out of energy. But even she was no match for Kronos, and before they knew it, the ghoul had gotten away. All he left behind was a body (Percy later found out it had been a ghoul killed), a destroyed office, and a broken weapon.

What Percy never saw coming was Athena's use of the body to find those the ghoul had once called family.

* * *

Will tried Nico's door again, this time knocked five times in a row. Eventually, Nico's voice came from the other side.

"What do you want?" Nico asked.

"Your shift tomorrow..." Will started. 

"Pass," Nico dismissed.

Will sighed. "Nico, you know-"

"I couldn't kill that man," Nico cut in, his voice cold and dead. "I couldn't."

Will bit his lip before sitting with his back against the door. He had a sense Nico was doing the same on the other side. "Listen...Hazel and Marie were fighting earlier, you know that. But they made up. The whole time I couldn't help but think how great it would be to have a family. When I did...it wasn't any different than a ghoul's family, a human one. Maybe that's not surprising to you, but before I...before I _switched_ , I never even thought that a ghoul could have a family, let alone love one. And that's how it is for all humans, their lack of understanding. But Clarisse and Chris, they're a family, you saw that. And I know you aren't big on ghouls and humans mixing, no one really is, but you saw that love."

Nico was silent for some time before grunting. "What did you want?"

Will scratched the back of his neck. "At the church...I started talking about Rachel when I have no idea about her or your relationship, so I'm sorry."

Nico hummed. "Apology accepted."

Will perked up. "What? Really? I-"

"Stop stalking my door, Solace."

"Right, sorry."

* * *

Percy and Athena asked around the streets, heading deeper and deeper into New York City, as Marie and Hazel left Big House to go to the book store. Hazel had finished her one book and wanted another, not to mention wanting to get one for her father's birthday.

The clouds were dark, it started raining. Will left work at around the same time, never expecting the day to go south.

But the Gods spotted the two they were after, started to chase them the way they wanted them to go. And Hazel's brilliant nose picked up on her father's scent.

"MOM!" she screamed. "Mom, dad's close!"

Marie tried desperately to pull her daughter away, to get her out of there in time. But Hazel took off and left her no other choice but to run after her.

Hazel didn't stop until she was halfway through that alley, until she saw why she smelled her father, until she saw his corpse.

Marie stopped beside her and let out a cry of disbelief. The rain was hitting so hard that their tears weren't visible.

But their tears didn't matter, not when they were cornered and alone.

"What nice weather it is," Athena commented. "The rain always brings in what you're looking for."

Percy stared at the woman and her daughter, his weapon in hand but the fight not in his heart. Were they really killing what looked to be so innocent?

Two more investigators blocked their escape. Percy could see the frightened look in the woman's eyes.

"I need to ask for a moment of your time," Athena smirked. "It's about this dear man taking a nap at my feet."

The woman grabbed her daughter's shoulder, her voice low but her eyes determined. "Hazel."

"Momma..." the girl whimpered.

But Percy knew that look in that woman's eyes, grasped his weapon tight, prepared for a fight.

But none came. Instead, the woman's styx grew from her back, the yellow organs resembling butterfly wings, and they cocooned around the woman and child until they were blocked from view.

Marie looked death in the face and knew exactly what she had to do.

"Hazel..." Marie knelt beside her daughter and took her face in her hands. "You need to run."

"...mom..." Hazel choked.

"Run to Big House," Marie instructed. "I'll be behind you. I'll catch up."

"No," Hazel shook, "No! I'm not leaving you!"

Marie pulled Hazel into a hug as she felt the bullets hitting her styx. They didn't have time. _She_ didn't have time.

This was it.

_Run. Run and leave me behind. Run and never look back. I'm going to die so you can live, and I can only hope you grow to forgive me._

Her wings opened and hit the two extra Gods, knocking them to the floor. She pushed Hazel that way and turned to face the other two, her eyes red and her heart breaking.  
"Run, Hazel! Go!"

One of her last feelings was the relief in hearing her daughter run away.

"Was that supposed to be an act of motherly love?" Athena teased. "It was sweetly sickening."

Percy didn't stop staring after where the little girl had run.

Hazel ran. She ran for Big House, cried and sobbed and could only hope her mother was behind her. "Nico! Will!"

Her feet hurt. She tripped and fell face-first into a puddle, smacking her nose against the pavement so hard her head spun. But from that position, she laid eyes on Will Solace, him not too far away...

"Will!" Hazel screamed as she started sprinting again, as she finally got his attention, as she grabbed his arm and started to yank him away. "Hurry! Hurry! They got mom!"

Will saw the terror on Hazel's face as soon as he laid eyes on her. He knew whatever was going on, it wasn't going to end well. But then she choked out that it was her mom, started to pull him away.

He followed without knowing what he could do, what Marie had even gotten into. 

When Hazel led him to the front of the alley, however, his heart dropped into his stomach.

"Quite the experienced fighter, aren't you?" Athena asked, staring at the bleeding woman as she tried to rise again to her feet just to fall on her knees. "You're sloppy."

Athena stepped forward, Percy stayed as still as stone. "A mother sacrificing herself to protect her precious child... You make my skin crawl, watching this human charade you ghouls put up."

She drew her new weapon, made from the styx of the ghoul corpse at her feet. 

Marie died from a weapon created by her husband's body. She watched it until her head was cut clean off her kneeling body.

The scene looked too much like the execution of a martyr for Percy's sake.

Will couldn't fight, he couldn't take on two Gods. He didn't even have his mask yet. But he could protect Hazel, and that's what he did. He kept his hands covering her mouth and eyes, but couldn't look away from the scene himself. 

"Good, this is great!" the woman investigator declared before she made that kill. "Despair, terror, hatred! Expressions like those! More! Show me more!"

The man with the green eyes just stood there. Silent, unmoving, a mountain. But rain and water eventually erode rock.

"I suppose I should listen to your last words out of pity," she continued. "There's no need to hold back."

Marie tilted her face up to the sky, managed a smile. "Haz-"

Then Will watched her head detach from her shoulders.


	8. Hades's Anger- Where to Turn?

Will sat in the silent room, his heart in his stomach and his hands motionless on his lap. Chiron, Clarisse, Conner, and Travis were seated as well on the couches while Thanatos stood against the back wall. The only one missing was Nico, who had been out all day. He still didn't know.

Hazel was sleeping in Nico's bed. It was the only place she still felt safe.

Nico opened the door and peered into the room, his eyes narrowed in confusion, his aviator jacket on like usual. "Look, I'm sorry for skipping out on work, but I'm back now. Promise. So why's the coffee shop closed?"

Chiron gestured him to close the door. "Nico... Investigators killed Marie."

Anger. More anger than Will had ever seen crossed Nico's face. He wasn't sure how anyone could stand to hold that much anger.

Nico punched a hole in the wall, a picture nearby falling and breaking. "What about Hazel? Is she safe?"

Chiron nodded. "She's sleeping in your bed."

Nico took a deep breath. His eyes were red. "They saw her face, didn't they?"

Another nod.

"Damn it!"

"When the time is right, we'll send her to another city," Chiron continued. "It's the safest way to keep her out of their sight-"

"Hell fucking no!" Nico denied. "She just lost her family, there's no fucking way she's leaving me. I turn eighteen in January. I'll adopt her. She'll be mine. But you're not sending her away!"

"Nico, they saw her face-"

"Then we'll kill them!" Nico gestured to Thanatos. "We have Thanatos, and even Clarisse, and the Stoll's. We can work together. We'll kill them."

Thanatos let out a low breath. "Nico, if we kill the Gods, more will come swarming in. It won't solve anything and you know this."

"But-!"

"Nico!" Thanatos snapped. "You're letting your anger control you! Chiron doesn't like it any better than you, but he's thinking rationally."

Nico flipped him off before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him. All Thanatos did was sigh.

Will didn't share the anger that Nico did. All he felt was uncontrollable guilt and dread. Yes, he had saved Hazel, but he had let Marie die.

Those Gods had killed an innocent woman while thinking they were doing righteous work. How many more cases like this were out there?

Ghouls were being legally slaughtered. It was a genocide. And not one human gave a damn.

* * *

Percy left the meeting with even more conflicting thoughts than the day before. They were hunting a child. They had killed her mother.

"Remember," Athena had warned, "She's seen our faces. Be careful."

Yeah, like a child could ever kill them. Percy went out to the bar that night with the two other investigators that had helped capture the woman, Pollux and Castor. Best friends, he soon learned.

"We always come here," Pollux chatted as they sat at the bar. "Serves great wings. Castor gets the same thing every time."

Castor rolled his eyes. "Maybe you should try what I get instead of dissing it."

"What _do_ you get?" Percy asked, just to be polite. But he still wasn't sure who he was sitting with. Murderers like Athena? Did they even think of her as a murderer?

When had he?

"Soup," Castor declared. "French onion soup."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "At a bar?"

"Right?" Pollux laughed. "He doesn't ever stop ranting about it."

Percy couldn't help but smile. "I think I'm going to stick to the wings."

They ordered their food and drinks before Castor turned to Percy. "You went to NYC Academy for your investigator training, right?"

Percy nodded. That school...it had taken him forever to get into it. Prestige in its class, only for the best. His mother had cried when he told her the news. 

"What's it like?" Castor continued. "You had girls in your class?"

"Dude, girls are investigators, too," Pollux groaned.

"I know, I'm just asking."

"There were two girls in my class, fierce soldiers," Percy remembered them in perfect detail, especially the look on their parents' faces at their funerals. "They both fell against the One-Eyed Owl."

Silence. The only SSS rated ghoul on record. The ghoul with the highest kill streak. Legend says that if you meet him, there's no chance of survival.

"Dude, I'm sorry-"

"It's okay," Percy assured. "It's not uncommon to lose your life in our line of work. That's why my mom's always on a brink of a meltdown. They were passionate. And the passionate ones...they always die."

Percy looked down at his empty plate before standing up. "I'm going to head out if that's okay."

They both nodded, and when Percy went to pull out his wallet, Castor stopped him. "It's on me."

"You sure?" Percy asked.

Castor nodded. "My apology."

"Well...thanks, man. See you tomorrow." Percy shook their hands before leaving the bar, unaware that tomorrow wouldn't be the day he was expecting.

Castor and Pollux walked home side-by-side, hands in their pockets and a cigarette in Pollux's mouth. They were on the quiet part of town by then, unaware of their silent follower.

"We're going to be stuck at the bottom of the food chain forever," Castor complained. "People like Percy are so quick to promotions. I mean, he's working with Athena Chase for shit's sake."

"He didn't seem obsessed with promotions," Pollux commented. "He's more of the justice-type."

Castor nodded. "Definitely." He sighed. "You know, when I started all of this, I was hoping for some desk work. I never thought I'd be out on the front lines."

"Yeah, well, isn't that where all expendables are?"

"I think I'll try harder, be that justice person he is," Castor admitted. "Percy-"

Three red spikes were shot into his chest. He was dead before he hit the ground.

"Cas...Castor..." Pollux looked at the ghoul in front of them, his eyes widening when he recognized him. A ghoul that had been off their radar for a while. A styx transformed into colorful wings. His mask- a pitch-black helm of terror that created his nickname- Hades.

"You're the ones," Hades gasped. "You killed Marie."

He attacked again, and Pollux thought it was the end, but suddenly Percy Jackson was there, blocking the move.

"He's a high-speed ghoul!" Percy rattled off. Information, Athena always said it won a battle. But Percy didn't have his weapon with him, didn't have anything but the information Athena had filled him with. SS, used to be active and sudden stopped, hasn't been sighted in years. 

Block, duck, don't run. Athena had told him so. If the foe is before you, you fight. Even if it costs you your life.

But he thought of his mother, how she'd react. He thought of never eating again, never going to a party, never seeing the sunset. He didn't want to die. 

This ghoul...he knew a ghoul they had murdered. Wasn't this just justice?

Before he could act on that thought, maybe even talk the ghoul down, Athena was beside him with her weapon in hand, Hades jumping back a few feet to dodge the attack.

"Walking in this city without your weapon is like driving without a seat belt," Athena scolded. "Without me, you'd be dead."

She was right, but he still didn't feel thankful.

"Now..." Athena turned to face Hades, that cold smirk of hers. "Percy, take a breather. Let me have a little fun."

Her attacks were fast but that ghoul was always faster. As he watched, Percy couldn't help but root for Hades. He was young, that much was obvious, and it was only anger that filled his movements. The need for revenge. He wasn't there just to kill a couple investigators. He was there to avenge whoever they had killed.

But he was slowing down. His speed came with a price, it seemed, as the fighting stopped and he perched on a lamppost just out of Athena's reach. His breaths were short and ragged.

Athena noticed but didn't feel bad as Percy did. Instead, her cackle echoed against the buildings.

"Were you friends with that woman we killed?" she taunted. "Would you like me to tell you how the monster was slaughtered? She was so weak...so miserable... I had quite the laugh-"

Hades attacked again. Hard, heavy hits, too angry to see right. Maybe that's what Athena had been hoping for. 

Percy took a step forward but couldn't bring himself to do anymore. If he was said to be a ghoul-lover...

Hades laid on the ground after taking a hard hit, that mask still on but unable to hide his pain and exhaustion. Athena stood beside him, smirking, looking down at him as if she won the lottery.

"Now," she cooed, "The woman had a brat with her. Would you mind telling me where she ran off to? I feel bad, a child separated from her mother. I want to have them meet again soon enough."

Hades struggled to his feet. Percy felt like throwing up as he saw him injured again, and again, until he was on the floor with a pool of blood around him.

Athena leaned over him, hair falling around her face, blood splattering her white coat. "Do you know how many of you monsters I've wiped out? You'll just be the next in a long line. You'll be nothing more than a number."

Hades stood up again, every limb shaking, his mask still somehow on. Percy was half-convinced he was going to attack Athena again, but the ghoul used every last bit of strength to escape that day. Percy could only hide his happiness at Athena losing him, not get rid of it.

* * *

Will sat in the armchair in Nico's bedroom, watching as Hazel slept in his bed. She was peaceful, or at least for the time being. He wondered how she could possibly sleep without nightmares of what had happened, but he was just glad she could do so.

Hazel... How could he ever make it up to her? To Nico? When would their lives ever be as peaceful as Will had once known? To not be human in their world, it was to forever live in fear.

Why...why...

A loud crash sent him to his feet. He ran out to Nico's living room to find Nico laying there, half in the broken window, unconscious and bleeding. A mask Will hadn't seen before lay on the ground below him.

"Shit!" Will grabbed Nico and dragged him over to the couch, ripping the old clothes off him so he could find the injuries. Leaving Nico in only boxers made his ears turn bright red. Being the one to do so made his stomach heat up.

But the sight of Nico's wounds put out that rising fire in him.

Some of them were piecing themselves back together but too many were still gushing blood. Ghoul anatomy, ghoul first aid, Will knew nothing about it. He had no idea how to help him.

So he did the only thing he could think of. With blood covering him and dread sinking in his stomach, he ran out to find Chiron.

* * *

Will sat against the closed door, his head in his knees and blood still staining his clothes. How long had they been helping Nico in there? It felt like ages. He just needed to wake up...please wake up...

The door opened, sending him falling back onto the floor. He looked up to see Chiron looking down at him, those kind eyes more stressed than usual. "He's going to be just fine. But I've given him a warning that I'll also give you. Going after Gods one more time...looking for the fight...I won't be able to accept that in this building."

Will nodded up at him. "I understand, sir."

Chiron sighed before helping him to his feet. "Thank you for getting me, Will. It was the best choice. You'll be able to take Nico's shifts for some days?"

"Of course, sir."

Chiron put a hand on his shoulder before walking passed him, leaving the room. Once he was gone Will had a clear view of Nico laying on the couch, covered in bandages, his eyes still closed. Thanatos was sitting on the other couch, something Will really hadn't been expecting, reading one of the books Hazel had left laying around.

Will stood in silence for a good five minutes before stepping further in. "Um, Thanatos sir, is there anything I can do for him?"

Thanatos shook his head without looking up from the book.

"What about Hazel?" Will asked. "Is she still asleep?"

Thanatos nodded.

Will played with his hands before sitting at Nico's feet, his eyes on that pale face. If he had died...

Thanatos stood up and placed the book on the table. Hazel's colorful bookmark still poked out the top. "If you hurt him, you're dead."

And then he left.

Sighing, Will ran a hand through his hair before grabbing the book Thanatos had set down. One of Luke Castellan's, one Will had read before. He still wasn't sure how Hazel, being as young as she was, was able to enjoy that dark genre.

"All you fucking do is read, don't you?"

Will set the book down before looking to Nico. The younger boy's eyes were open, staring, judging, a hint of humor and full of pain. But he was awake.

"What did you do?" Will asked. "Do you know how dangerous that was?"

Nico scowled before pulling himself into a seated position. Will was about to scream about his wounds but realized Nico knew more about the ghoul body that Will ever would.

"I can stand when a murderer like me is killed," Nico hissed. "That's just justice, what I've asked for in these years. But when an innocent ghoul like Marie is killed...or if Hazel had been, too... It's wrong. It's so fucking wrong. The Gods have no right to do that."

"I agree," Will whispered. "About the second part. No one should kill the innocent. But even if they aren't innocent...whether they're a ghoul or human...their death is still going to hurt someone. If you had died today, you would have hurt me and Hazel, and Chiron, and hell, even Thanatos. You should have heard him threaten me. But killing a human...you're hurting those who are close to them, as well. But...but I'm on your side, no matter what. I don't want you to die."

"My side?" Nico grumbled.

Will nodded. "If you ever need me, I'm there. I won't kill anyone even if I could, but I'll always be by your side." He grinned at the ability to use one of his favorite references. "I'm with you till the end of the line."

Nico didn't seem to get it. Will definitely had to get him to watch Captain America. Maybe during this healing time he could.

* * *

Percy stood with that moment of silence for Castor. He went to his funeral. Afterward, he went to that same bar with Pollux and got that french onion soup. Castor had been right, it seemed. It was amazing.

He was there when they started warning that Hades was back, killing again. He was there when Athena vowed to get him and the child that had escaped. He didn't vow with her.  
But Castor hadn't deserved to die, either. He was murdered by Hades. But the one Hades was avenging...she was murdered by them...

What was right? Where could he go from there? Every turn was murder. His only choice was which group of innocents to murder.

How had his life ever come to this? There had to be a way...there had to be a way...


	9. Beheaded Intentions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made an Instagram where I'm going to be posting pictures related to my works. The basis of Will's mask is posted on it. It's public so you don't have to follow but feel free to. Account is pey.119

Will slept over at Nico's that night, something he should have been exhilarated by, but it was nothing like he ever fantasied about. 

Nico never moved from the couch, a blanket over his wounded body, his dark eyes closed. Asleep he looked like any other teenage boy, not a murderer, not a ghoul, not someone carrying extreme amounts of anger. Not someone that was planning on going back out.

But Will wouldn't let him go alone. He could be his healer, he could try to tame him if they were outmatched. His presence could save Nico's life.

So he laid on the floor that night, his blankets set up right by the couch, his heart in his stomach. 

Nico's arm was hanging off the couch, his knuckles resting against Will's chest. Will was sure that this wouldn't be the case if Nico was awake, so he accepted the contact when he could and eventually fell asleep.

In his sleep, things were peaceful. In his sleep, it was just him and Nico. No ghouls, no humans, no murders nor revenge. Just the two of them, clasped together.

When he woke it was dawn, the rising sun bathing the room in red and orange. Nico was standing there, eating human meat he must have gotten from Chiron or the shop downstairs, some blood dripping down his chin and onto the carpet. He was wearing black skinny jeans and a muscle shirt, his mask tucked under his arm.

Will blinked back the sleep and confusion until Nico was done eating before looking up at him.  
"You're going already?"

Nico wiped his mouth and nodded. "I healed, I ate, I'm ready."

Will scrambled to his feet. "But Nico, it was just last night...you can afford to rest for another day or two."

"You think the anger disappeared just because I got in over my head?" Nico snapped. "Because it's still there, Will. Marie deserves justice. Hazel deserves justice. That investigator murdered an innocent woman and I refuse to let him walk off. How can I look at Hazel and say I let her mother's murderer go? How can we live knowing he saw her face?"

"Nico... I can't change your mind," Will said. "But I'm coming with you. There's no way I'm letting you go alone."

"But you can't kill anyone," Nico hissed. "What would you possibly come to do?"

"Help protect your ass!" Will yelled. "Remember what I said? Humans and ghouls alike die, leaving people behind. I'm not letting you die. You'd be leaving me and Hazel and Thanatos and everyone else here behind. I'm not letting you. I can't stop you from killing that man, but I can keep you from killing yourself."

Nico stared at him for a minute in silence before throwing his mask onto the couch. "You think you'd be able to save me during a fight?"

Will nodded. "I...I can be like your medic, your doctor."

Was he imagining it, or did Nico just blush?

"Then we're going to pick up your mask," Nico said. "Gods will be there. We can't risk them seeing your face."

Will blinked. "You're okay with it?"

"As long as I can get revenge and make sure Hazel's safe, I'm fine with you coming," Nico said. "But if you even dare stop me from killing him…"

Will held his hands up in surrender. "I know, I know."

Nico nodded in acceptance. "Then let's go."

* * *

The walk to Leo's was full of anxiety this time around, unlike the last when it was just a suggestion they went. Will couldn't stop glancing at Nico as they walked through the streets of New York, those dark eyes, his hair, everything about him.

His anger was so palpable it seemed to roll off him in waves.

How could anyone ever hold that and stay sane? Stay alive? Is that why so many people died so young? Anger drives you to the edge. It erases your morals. It brings out the animal in you.

He read a book in high school called Lord of the Flies. Throughout the book, you saw the animal come out of the innocent. They all had an animal in them waiting to break out. And anger fueled it.

He hadn't thought twice about anger until he met Nico di Angelo. He hadn't thought twice about a lot of things until he looked into those eyes.

They stepped into Leo's shop soon enough. Nico walked up to the older man and held out a wad of bills, his expression grim.

"Give Will his mask."

Leo took the money and pocketed it. "What happened to you?"

"Valdez, I will not hesitate-"

"Fine, fine, I get it." Leo walked over to a work station and looked through the boxes beside it. His feet were tapping with extra energy and his hands were moving too quickly. "In a hurry. You always are when someone dies. Who are you avenging this time?"

Nico grit his teeth. "I didn't come for chit chat. Will needs his mask. This city is getting too dangerous. Gods everywhere."

"Gods, huh?" Leo took a mask out and held it up. "The Greek gods were actually what inspired this baby. Here, Will. Try it on."

Will could see the Greek mythology behind the mask immediately. Artemis and Apollo, twins of night and day. It was a full mask with eye openings and one for his mouth, one side gold and the other silver. The gold side had small spikes sticking out- the sun. The silver was rounded perfectly, looked like it would be cold to the touch- the moon.

Leo helped him get the mask on. At first it felt bulky, odd, too hot to encompass his face. But once it was on for a couple minutes he realized that the measurements were perfect. He could see everything, his mouth was exposed the perfect amount, his ears and hair were free. Nothing poked him or was uncomfortable in that way. It didn't slide nor pinch.

"Leo... you're really good at your job," Will breathed as he looked in a mirror. "Really good. I love it."

Leo grinned. "I thought you would."

Will turned to Nico. "What do you think?"

Nothing about Nico's face made sense. Why did he look so sad?

"We need to get going," he said, his voice merely a whisper. "I want to do it already."

"Are you going to tell me what you're doing?" Leo asked.

"No, so leave it be," Nico demanded. "Will, put the mask in your bag so nobody sees you with it."

He did as he was told despite almost wanting to wear it back to Big House. Shouldn't he have been upset? It was the true mark he was a ghoul, after all. But as the days had gone by since his change, since the incident, he had started to feel as if being a ghoul wasn't a horrible thing at all. It had given him Nico, it had given him perspective.

As long as he didn't kill, he was still him, whether he was human or not.

But Nico's eyes were miserable when he looked at him wearing it. That misery had even outdone all that anger. But what was it for? What was Nico mourning?

The walk back was silent. Even the city was unusually quiet.

* * *

Percy knew he wasn't going to have a good day as soon as Athena called him for the mission. The feeling only amplified when he saw the two bags she carried alongside her weapon.

"What's in the bags?" he questioned. A horrible feeling grew in his chest.

Her smile. Those cold eyes. "Some things are better left unsaid."

He had to help her carry the bags despite his idea of what was in them. It was his job, he had been ordered to. But every day and every minute his regret of joining the force grew.

They had killed an innocent woman. He'd never forget it.

They took a car to the outer edges of the city, the overgrown grass and the abandoned overpass keeping all civilians away. A water source flowed under the overpass, brown and murky after years of human pollution. The concrete on either side was stained with who knows what.

"I'll get set up here," Athena explained. "I'm waiting for that girl. You keep watch for Hades. I have a feeling he'll show up. And my instincts never lie."

Percy felt bile rise in his throat as he watched Athena set up her plan. She walked onto the concrete beside the water, the overpass above her, and removed the contents from both bags. Two heads. One rather decayed, the other in better shape.

The woman they had killed. The innocent.

Percy walked off without another word. Keep watch for Hades, he had been told. Instead he emptied the contents of his stomach into the brown water when Athena wasn't watching.

Hazel sat up in bed, her hair a mess, her pajamas on, her thoughts fuzzy from sleep. But one thing was on her mind: smell. She smelled them.

Her parents.

She ran to the living room and stuck her head out of the broken window, not a thought on why it was broken or where Nico was. She smelled her parents.

"Momma!"

She jumped from the window and hit the ground running.


	10. Even If It Costs Your Life

Percy didn't realize that would be the night his life would forever change. He never let himself even imagine Athena dying like that. He never thought he'd be part of her murder.

And yet his hands were stained with her blood.

She ordered him to keep watch for Hades so she could kill the child herself without any distractions. But he didn't wait with his weapon out, he waited sitting down with his head in his hands.

Percy knew he couldn't kill a child. He knew this. And he sure as hell couldn't stand by and watch one be murdered. But he was at his post as ordered and waited.

Waited.

Conflicting thoughts swarm through his mind. Good and evil and thin lines and _I am not killing a kid._

But it was superior's orders.

_I am not killing a kid._

Nico's eyes were too angry to look at as they followed the scent-path Hazel left. Nico's nose wasn't that great compared to other ghouls, to Hazel, but he knew her well enough to follow behind.

Will followed Nico. He always followed Nico.

The sun that lit their path was dying but staying strong. Its blood covered the sky and illuminated the giants of buildings in the distance. They ran through the dying day, their masks on, adrenaline pumping through their veins. 

Will didn't feel bad about being a ghoul in that moment. He felt good, on top of the world, part of something that also included Nico. He felt powerful. Something about the mask drove him wanting more.

He wanted to be able to control his styx like Nico could. He wanted to be able to protect Nico, not the other way around. He wanted to be able to protect Hazel. He wanted to be able to save them from ghouls and humans alike.

"If you stop me from killing them, I'll kill you!" Nico growled. He was already panting. Will could imagine the sweat dripping down his face behind the mask.

He meant his words. He always did. And somehow Will was still in bliss, on his high, ready to take on anything.

Hazel stopped walking. The trance and hope lifted off her, slowly at first and then all at once, and she screamed at the sight that greeted her.

"Looks like I finally caught the little one."

Nico's feet ground to a halt at the sight of the abandoned overpass in front of them. His eyes were red and his breaths came too quickly.

"She's in there?" Will asked.

Nico nodded. "You keep watch. I'm going in. Make sure whoever is with them doesn't come for backup."

Will smiled and then frowned. "I can't control my styx yet."

Nico ignored him and took off toward his target. His styx erupted from his back as he ran, those blood red wings so similar to his eyes. Deadly. Ready to kill.

Will closed his eyes and tried to force his own out. Nothing. His back was whole as ever and his shirt was put together. That animalistic sense didn't come over him.

He opened his eyes and took in the surroundings again. Nico was right like always. A man was nearby, clearly an investigator, the disguised weapon beside him.

Will couldn't let him get to Nico. He couldn't. So he tried to let his styx loose one last time before giving up and charging toward him.

Hazel felt herself shaking as she stared at the woman who killed her mother. Those cold blue eyes, eyes of a killer. Nothing like the warmth of her mother's red ones. That pale face. The inhumanity.

She moved to step back but stopped when her foot met one of her parents´ heads. She drew it back, refused to touch _that._ The sight she'd never unsee.

"I thought you'd be happy to see me," the woman cooed. "You're going to be able to meet your parents again."

Hazel shook her head and let out a sob. "They're dead! You killed them!"

The woman smiled. That cold smile. "I know." 

She bent down and picked up two different briefcases. Disguised weapons. Hazel's heart started beating faster and every last ounce of childlike innocence left her.

She was staring in the face of death. This was the only reason she had been born. To die.

Birth to death, she was called a monster by those who claimed to be human.

Birth to death, she never was a normal kid. She never went to school or had friends.

She had been born to be murdered in the never ending genocide that no country was safe from.

Why had she been dealt this hand? Why couldn't she have another chance?

She just wanted to live. All anyone wants is to live.

The woman in front of her opened the cases and exposed the weapons for what they really were-- the styx removed from her mother and father's backs. Their new handles and controls. What once protected her now turned against her.

"Say hello to mommy and daddy!"

Hazel closed her eyes and prepared for the impact, prepared for what everyone said death would be, how all the books described it and the peaceful words Luke Castellan would decorate it with. She prepared for the smell of blood. For pain. For everything she ever knew to fade away from her.

But it didn't come. Not then. She squinted her eyes open, half thinking she'd see Heaven or Hell or wherever ghouls ended up. But she was still alive.

Nico stood with his back to her, crouched, his fiery wings blocking the attack.

She let more sobs fall out of her mouth and wreck her body apart. Fear. They wrote about the pain and the sadness and the blood. They never wrote about the horrific, body-breaking terror.

Percy scrambled to his feet and grabbed his case when he saw the ghoul stop in front of him, a ghoul he had neither seen nor heard of. The mask, half yellow and half black, the blue eyes beneath it.

"You're not getting passed me," the ghoul spoke. He was young. He was scared. "I won't let you hurt anyone else."

Percy stared into the blue eyes. He felt no aggression while standing in front of a ghoul for the first time. No fear. It was like he was standing in front of anyone else in the city.

"My name's Percy," Percy managed. "Percy Jackson. I turn 25 in August."

The ghoul didn't answer. But he didn't attack, either. They stood there in silence, staring at each other, wondering how they were supposed to fight the other when they were already at peace.

"I don't want to hurt you or anyone else," Percy said. "I...I used to. I would help kill ghouls all the time. But ever since we killed that woman-"

The ghoul went rigid. "You killed Marie."

"No, well kinda, Athena-"

"You killed Marie!" he yelled. "She wasn't a monster! She was a mother! An innocent mother! She never killed anyone!"

Percy felt the dread and guilt pool in his stomach and chest. "I`m sorry."

"You...what?"

"I`m sorry."

The ghoul blinked. The anger washed away. "You...you really see, don't you? You see it? Ghouls aren't the monsters humans portray them to be. They're just as scared as us. We´re all scared. But ghouls didn't ask to be different. They didn't ask to be as they are. They just want to live peaceful lives."

"You're a human?" Percy asked. "You just called yourself a human. What in the hell are you doing here without a weapon-"

"I'm not human, not anymore."

Percy lowered his weapon before just letting it drop. The handle broke against the concrete. "It's possible to turn? Don't tell me some zombie shit can go down, oh please god don't say it."

The ghoul shook his head. "I… It happened another way. I can't say or you'll figure out my identity."

"I get it," Percy bit out. "No showing faces, no telling names. I get it. But did you ever think that's why people can't see you as humans? All humans have faces, have names. You're just masks and violence to us."

"And you're just ruthless murderers to us."

"But you haven't attacked me," Percy said. "You haven't made a move to harm me."

"I'm only here to protect Ni-.... Ghouls can love too, you know. We protect and avenge those we love."

Percy heard the fighting from under the overpass. He wondered if Athena was really in over her head or not. "You love Hades."

"If that's what he's called."

"Are you going to help him?"

"If you don't try to stop me."

The war his brain was waging almost made his ears bleed. But with one last shot, the war was over.

"I won't stop you," Percy promised. "She's trying to kill a little kid. Go, protect the kid."

The ghoul hesitated before running toward the fight. Percy didn't stop him but did follow. He needed to be there incase he was the only one left to save that little girl.

Nico hated the woman in front of him. No matter what Will said, no matter what crap people and the Bible and anything else spit out, he hated this woman. And he was going to kill her.

But that task was harder than he originally thought. She was a damn good fighter despite her age, she could take and block blows that would kill anyone else, she kept going. No matter what, she always kept fighting.

_No matter what, if the enemy is before you, fight, even if it costs you your life._

His Uncle Thanatos told him that after his father was killed. His father told him that after his mother was killed. Chiron had taken this idea out of his head and replaced it with _survive, escape, know your body's limits, never push them._

But here it was again, reflected in one he wanted to hate.

Her blows were worse than her blocks. Pain was in his every breath. They had called her a god for good reason. Blood was everywhere.

"Run!" he pleaded. "Hazel, get out of here!"

Hazel didn't move. She just stood there by the heads, sobbing, acting as any other terrified child would.

One landed attack, two, he spit up blood. Three, four, he landed on the concrete and the back of his head splattered against it, blood shooting up around him. His vision forever altered. When he reached back, his head felt too squishy. There should have been skull there. The right side of his face was chilly.

"Well, look at that. I never expected the great Hades to be a child. Took your daddy's mask, did you?"

Percy stopped beside the ghoul-friendly and stared at the scene before him. Hades had come, just as Athena said, and was doing everything in his power to protect the little girl.

"Hazel!" Ghoul-friendly hissed. "Hazel, come here!"

The girl didn't move or seem to hear him. Instead she continued to sob, continued to witness what no child should ever imagine.

"Run and get her," Percy ordered. "I'll help distract Athena. But you need to get the child out of here."

Ghoul-friendly turned and stared at him again. Those blue eyes were more humane than Athena's.

Then he held out his hand. "Will."

Percy nodded and shook it. "Will, go get Hazel. I'll help Hades hold Athena back. But Hazel needs to be out of here. This...I can't even imagine having a childhood like this. And we need to make sure she has more than this shitty childhood. Make sure she lives and grows up. I'd grab her but she'd never trust me. That's why you need to."

Will nodded. "Just promise me one thing, Percy."

"Anything."

"Don't harm Hades. Not a hair on his head."

Percy looked back at the fight. "I won't unless it's self protection."

"That's all I ask."

Percy grabbed the briefcase and clicked the button to unleash his weapon. He remembered the face of the ghoul it used to be. "Wait until Hades and I are between Athena and Hazel, then swoop in."

"Got it."

He kept his eyes on the fight and waited for a good moment to jump in, but none did. Instead, Hades hit the ground so hard the concrete broke around him and blood splattered over the walls. If Percy's sight wasn't so bad he'd say he saw some brains leaking out.

And his mask broke. Half of Hades´s face was exposed for all the world to see. He could hear Will take in a sharp breath. 

"Well, look at that. I never expected the great Hades to be a child. Took your daddy's mask, did you?" Athena taunted. Percy felt like throwing up.

A teenager. Hades was just a teenager, and a hurt one at that. How had he possibly been able to hold that much anger?

"Change of plans," Percy breathed. "Save Hades."

"Nico," Will corrected. "His name is Nico. And he's the strongest ghoul I know. If he can't beat her, there's no way I have a chance."

Percy set his weapon down and pulled out his gun. "Well, I do."

Will looked down at it and then at Nico's broken form. "Shoot the bitch."

Nico knew he was fucked when he couldn't even sit up on his own. Every cell felt wrong, he was seeing double, even propping his head up against the wall felt like he was greeting death. 

_No matter what, if the enemy is before you, fight, even if it costs you your life._

His uncle had said it and his father had said it. It was what he needed to follow if he was going to save Hazel's life.

But his body wasn't moving. He felt death creeping in.

"Nico! Stay awake!"

Will. That was Will´s voice. The sound was distorted and sounded like it was coming from underwater, but Nico could recognize that voice from anywhere.

"Will…" he whispered.

"Just stay awake!" Another voice. A voice he didn't recognize. Fear shot through him.

But he couldn't move to do anything about it.

Percy held onto his broken wrist and stared at the water where the gun had been tossed. His idiot side contemplated diving in after it. Maybe it would still work, who knew? He definitely had never been taught if guns were waterproof or not.

"Traitor," Athena growled. "You're a traitor, Jackson! I believed in you!"

Blood was dripping down her face but he wasn't sure if it was hers or theirs. Her weapons were in her hands. Will was standing in front of Hazel but he was also hurt. She had stopped screaming but was still staring.

"I'll kill you all," Athena swore. "All of you! Monsters!"

Nico sat up at that but didn't look right. Percy was sure he'd be dead if he was human. That hard of a hit on the head…

"Haz isn't a monster," he spit. The other half of his mask fell off. 

"Haz...is that the little one's name?" Athena turned to Will. "Get out of the way or you'll be the first to die."

Will didn't move. Percy had respect for him and Nico alike. They lived an old saying his old teacher had once told him.

_No matter what, if the enemy is before you, fight, even if it costs you your life._

They fought. But Nico was too injured and Will didn't know how. And Percy, he had no weapons left that could injure Athena.

They all took more blows. They all got hurt some more. Percy never thought this was how he was going to die, defending ghouls against his superior.

But he was defending the innocent. And that was the way to go.

"Now," Athena said. "We're finishing this." She was bleeding worse and was pretty injured herself. She stood above Nico, that weapon in hand, ready to deliver that killing strike.

"No!" Hazel screamed. "Don't kill anyone else! JUST DON´T!"

Her brown eyes turned red, her styx erupted from her back just as many had done from many ghouls in the past. But instead of them being seen as violent, Percy finally saw them for what they were-- protectors. They had been for all these years, humans just couldn't see it. But he finally did.

The struck Athena over and over, spilling her blood and ripping her limbs from her body. She finally dropped beside Nico, still alive but critically injured, her arm still reaching for her weapon.

"Hazel, kill her," Nico gasped. "Finish it."

"I...I can't!" Hazel sobbed. Her styx disappeared and she fell to her knees, her hands at her heart as she wailed. "I don't want to kill anyone! I just want to go home!"

Percy struggled to his feet and looked around him. Will was unconscious, he couldn't remember why. Nico was trying to sit up. Athena couldn't talk but was still struggling. 

"You're right," Percy said. "We need to finish this."

Nico managed to reach over and grab Athena's dismembered arm. He took a few bites before struggling to his feet, staring down at the woman.

Percy saw the back of his head and knew why he had such a sinking feeling. His skull had definitely gotten fractured, if not crumbled. A human wouldn't be alive, hell, a ghoul shouldn't be alive.

"No one touches my family and lives," Nico hissed, then beheaded Athena as Athena had once beheaded that woman. 

It was silent besides the dripping blood. Percy looked around him one last time and knew of only one place to go.

"We'll be safe at my mom's," he gasped. "They'll never look for ghouls there. I'll say I never saw your faces."

Nico turned around. Percy couldn't understand why he looked guilty. "You're human."

"So was Will."

Nico went to retort but passed out, his head hitting Athena instead of the concrete this time.


	11. Healing and Home

Will sat on a pale blue couch in the Jackson apartment, a coffee in hand, his mask laying by his side and his eyes on the TV. Judge Judy was on. He always used to love unwinding to Judge Judy.

Sally Jackson was a woman that looked a little too young to have a son Percy's age but every bit as mature as needed. She walked out of the kitchen with her own mug of coffee and sat on the other couch, her tired eyes kind and her wrinkles from worry and smiles. She was a mother. And it made Will miss his own.

"Percy will be back soon," she promised. "He just has a lot to clean up."

Will didn't look away from the TV. Part of him was still in shock despite the adrenaline having run out hours ago.

"Is he going to quit?" Will asked. "Or is he going to keep killing? I… We can't stay here if he's going to keep killing. We can't keep in contact with him. Even though he saved our lives."

Sally set her mug on the table. "Honey...my boy isn't a killer. He's a protector. He will protect the innocent, no matter what it takes. He just needed something to remind him that ghouls can be the innocent, too."

"I didn't used to be a ghoul," Will admitted. "I was human. But...the accident...when I first switched, I was a mess. I refused to admit it. But Nico...he helped me get used to this crazy new world I'm living in. Before he did, before the switch, I hated ghouls. I hate to admit it but it's true. I was terrified of them. I thought they were monsters. How don’t you, if you’re pure human?”

“Well,” Sally said, “I was a teenager, too, once upon a time. And not a well off one, at that. I had a few run-ins with some questionable people. Whenever I heard someone coming...I always prayed it was a ghoul coming, not a human, and that made me realize that there are some humans way worse than ghouls, and vice versa, and we’re like two types of the same species. My science teacher was really into that, the slight differences between _homo sapiens_ and _homo ghalas_.”

She tucked her feet up beneath her and tucked her sweater around herself. “It’s where we got the word ghoul from, you know. _Ghalas_ was Arabic for something along those lines. __Sapiens__ and __ghalas__ are both subdivisions of the _homo_ genus. It’s like if the neanderthals were still living, they’d be a subspecies as well. We’re all closely connected.”

“But the CCG doesn’t see that, they don’t say it,” Will frowned. “The media’s against us as well.”

“It won’t last forever,” Sally promised. “It’s like the gay pride movement or black lives matter. They’ve been fighting for decades. There’s been improvement, but they’re still fighting, but there’s been improvement. And even before this improvement, good people knew what was right. Ghouls just haven’t started their movement yet.”

“We’re hunted like monsters.”

“Yes, but maybe not forever.”

Will finally felt comfortable enough to drink from his mug. “So, did Percy tell you what he was actually going to do?”

She smiled at the change of heart. “Making up a lie about her death, making sure everything’s covered and they have no idea who you or your friends are. But I don’t know if he plans to quit or not. It may be too suspicious.”

“It could be grief, fear-”

“He’s lost people before, and Athena wasn’t someone he would grieve over.”

She was right, of course, but he hated the idea of Percy going back to work. He hated thinking about all the ghouls he had killed in the past. Marie included. But he also knew Sally was right in her reasoning. Percy couldn’t draw any suspicion to himself or them.

“Maybe...maybe having support from those in the CCG will help our movement,” Will muttered into his coffee. “Maybe it’s a good thing _. Maybe.”_

Sally beamed at him. He could see the pride in her eyes.

“You’re a good kid,” she said. “You really are. Your mother must be proud.” She frowned. “Does she know of your transformation?”

Will shrugged. “She’s dead. So’s dad. I’ve been on my own for awhile.”

“Oh… I’m sorry to hear it, Will,” she whispered. “But know you’re more than welcome here whenever you need to stop by.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Jackson.”

“Sally,” she corrected. “Just Sally. And Jackson is Percy’s father’s last name. I remarried, so it’s Sally Blofis now.”

Will nodded in acceptance before looking around. “Where’s your husband? Is he aware you have a group of ghouls in your apartment?”

She chuckled. “No, no he doesn’t. That wasn’t something I could just text him. But he should be home from work soon. He stays late to help any of his students that need it.”

“Will he react bad?”

“Worried, maybe, but not upset. He’s not against ghouls, if that’s what you mean.”

Will sat back and held his mug close, accepting the warmth of it against his fingertips. He would have much rather had the warmth of Nico, but both he and Hazel were asleep in the guest bedroom, tucked in together and patched up.

“Tell me about the classifications again,” he said. “They say we’re not of God, that we’re unnatural. Does science back that up?”

“Never,” Sally confirmed. “Science is against what they say. __Homo ghalas__ evolved just as __homo sapiens__ and __homo neanderthalensis__ did. But instead of fighting for food with __sapiens_ , _their bodies evolved so they had their own prey. This just happened to be the __sapiens_. _Ghoul stomachs and tongues are different, they’re designed to digest __sapiens_. _And when they try something else...well, I’m sure you’ve seen the outcome.”

Will chuckled to himself and nodded.

“So __sapiens__ saw them as any other predators,” she continued. “But as the years went on...the similarities couldn’t be ignored. Ghouls were raped by humans, or humans were raped by ghouls, and ghouls could use seduction to trap their prey or humans could use it to kill powerful ghouls. They saw the elements of each other that made them human and instead of welcoming them, they used them against each other.”

“Were you friends with ghouls?” Will asked. “Or was this all from your science teacher?”

“Well, my science teacher ended up being one.”

Will’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? How’d you find out?”

She took another drink of her coffee before continuing. Something said she may have spiked it with whatever alcohol she had in the kitchen. “He saved me from some ghouls one day, had to use his styx to do so. I never told, he never hurt me, it made me trust him for every day after that.”

“Is he still teaching?”

Sally shook her head. “He retired that year and opened a coffee shop. It’s how I knew you could drink it.”

“Is his name Chiron?”

She paused. “You know him?”

“I work for him.”

* * *

Sally sat back with a smile lighting up her tired eyes. “It’s a small world. It really is, Will. I never would have imagined.”

“Me neither,” he agreed. “But now that I know it, I could see him being a teacher. Just not science.”

“Oh? What would you have him teach?”

“English. Literature. Maybe some old classics.”

She hummed in agreement before turning at the sound of the door. Will braced himself for Sally’s husband to walk in, for some yelling to take place, or maybe for Percy to finally get home and explain himself, or come to his senses and kick them out before he got in trouble. The last thing he expected was for a teenage girl to come prancing through the room.

“How was practice, Ellie?” Sally asked, watching as the girl dumped her bookbag on the couch and unpacked it onto the coffee table.

“Good,” she answered. “I made a-... Mom, who’s sitting on our couch?”

Sally stood up and rested a hand on her shoulder. “Estelle, this is Will. He’s a friend of Percy’s. He’s going to be hiding out here for a little bit.”

“Hiding out?” Estelle looked Will over before her eyes landed on his discarded mask. “Oh...he’s a ghoul.”

Sally nodded. “So you know to keep it a secret. You know not to mention him to anyone.”

“What about dad?” Estelle asked.

“I haven’t told him yet,” Sally admitted. “But I’m going to when he gets home. Just...promise me you can keep this a secret. If it gets out, we’re all in danger.”

“Damn, okay, I won’t say anything.” Estelle held her hands up in surrender before plopping down onto the couch. “But we’re telling Percy this time? He knows?”

“This time?” Will repeated.

Sally glanced at him. “We’ve harbored ghouls before, given them a place to heal up. We never tell Percy because we didn’t know if he would report back to the CCG.” She looked back to Estelle. “But Percy saved them. He brought them here. I’ll tell you the full story later, but it’s not important right now.”

“Them?”

“Nico and Hazel are asleep in the guest bedroom.”

Will looked between them before glancing down at his cup. Estelle was definitely Sally’s kid, but you could see the difference in fathers between her and Percy. He wondered what had happened to Percy’s.

Estelle looked back at Will and then at her mother. “I want to know what happened.”

“Estelle…”

“Mom, I just want to know.”

“Your brother saved our lives,” Will explained. “He realized we were innocent and he saved us. But him saving us allowed his partner to die. That’s why he’s not here. He’s cleaning everything up at the CCG.”

“Athena’s dead? Thank-”

“We don’t ever thank God for someone’s death,” Sally lectured. “You know what I’ve told you. We aren’t thankful for anyone’s death, whether ghoul or human-”

“Good or bad,” Estelle recited, “Close or far. Yeah, you’ve said it a thousand times.”

“Then listen to it.”

The door opened again, and this time a man Will hadn’t seen before came in with a bag over his shoulder. Judging by Sally and Estelle’s reactions, this was Sally’s husband. He took one look at the room before sighing, the bag falling to the floor and a few books spilling out.

“Where’d you find him this time?”

* * *

As Nico came into consciousness all he could register was the pain. That was rare to wake up to with their healing abilities, and it was even rarer to wake up in a bed that didn’t belong to him. With Hazel sleeping by his side.

He looked around the room and took in his surroundings without moving a muscle. He could smell humans in the next room, could smell Will in there as well. But nothing about Will’s scent screamed fear. He actually seemed...comfortable.

The room around him was as normal as could be. Bed, table, fan on the ceiling and a window open. The curtains blew in the breeze.

Nico sat up and flinched, every muscle screaming at him to lay back down and never get back up. He didn't want to think about what happened, all the muscles that stretched and tore beneath his skin, the stabs and scratches and __pain__ Athena inflicted on him. The final blow he landed on her. Her wedding ring soaking in her blood.

Who had he taken her away from?

He could imagine her husband or wife at home, waiting, wondering when she'd be back. Hearing the news. Feeling their heart sink into their stomach and their whole world crashing down around them and the _she really isn't coming home._

She wasn't coming home. Because of him.

Nico clenched his fists and forced himself to his feet. His pain strengthened his anger and grief, made it bubble up and up, nearly to the top and almost overflowing. His emotions were always almost overflowing.

And it was always anger.

Blood was still rubbed into his skin but his shirt had been removed. He still wore his pants even with their holes and bloody fabric. But most of his outside wounds were healed.

"Nico?" Hazel's small hand reached out and grabbed his arm. "Don't leave me."

"Hazel…" Nico sat back on the bed and looked her over. His head still throbbed and his vision wasn't what he remembered. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head and pulled him closer. "Don't leave me. I'm scared."

Nico laid beside her again and covered them up. "I'm not going anywhere. Us two, we're going to be okay. We're strong. As soon as I turn eighteen I'm going to adopt you, and you'll be safe with me, and you won't be running off without me ever again."

Hazel nodded. "I'm sorry. I…" Tears slipped down her cheeks again. "I really missed them. I just wanted momma."

"I know," Nico pulled her close. "That woman was cruel to tease you. But she's dead and gone, and you're safe with me."

"You're never going to leave me?"

"Never."

"Is Will okay?"

"Yeah, he's okay."

She sniffed the air and took in Will's scent before nodding in acceptance. "Where...where are we?"

"Dunno," Nico admitted. "But we're safe." He wrapped his arms around her, able to feel where her shirt had been ripped in the back from her newly shown styx. "Just don't worry, don't stress. I'm going to teach you to fight and protect yourself and you'll only use it when you need to and we'll all be safe together."

She was just a little girl. He shouldn't have had to be telling her that. And he sure as hell shouldn't have to be adopting her as soon as it was legal to.

Anger pumped through his veins with each drop of blood. Sometimes he wanted to watch the world burn, keep Will and Hazel safe with him and watch it all turn to ash.


	12. Coffee Talks

Percy walked into his mother's apartment to find her, his stepdad, his sister, and the ghoul-friendly Will Solace having coffee together, watching an episode of Judge Judy. Will's mask was on the couch beside him, all silver and gold and godly, but Hades's broken mask was missing. Percy couldn't even remember if they had grabbed it from that blood-soaked ground.

"Percy!" Sally got up from the worn couch and hugged him close. She looked as worried as she always was when it came to him and almost dying. 

"Mom," Percy held her close. "I'm okay."

Paul got up and patted his shoulder. "It's good to see you, Percy."

"You too, Paul."

Sally broke the hug and fixed his cross necklace, centering it on the loose chain. "How'd it go?"

Percy shrugged, rubbing at his new wrist brace. "Broken wrist, concussion, nothing worse. Made myself seem worse off for the show."

"Did they see through you?"

He shook his head.

"Good, good." Sally took his wrist in her hands and looked it over before gesturing to the couches. "Sit. I'll get you some coffee and aspirin."

"Yum, my favorite mix."

Percy moved and sat by Will, the couch having been empty beside him. "Hey, how are you doing?"

Will looked up from his mug of coffee, his blue eyes full of exhaustion and fear. "Okay, depending on how it went on your end."

Percy sat back and propped his feet up on the coffee table. "I told them the truth, but also not the truth, but they think it's the truth. I said I was fighting you on her orders not too far away, and she was fighting Hades down there. And by the time you ran away, she was dead."

"You sure they believed you?" Will asked.

Percy nodded. "I'm sure. They've never had any reason to be suspicious of me in the past. Athena always put in good words for me, in her own way. Like 'he's not a moron', or 'he's at least better than my last partner'."

Will looked down at his lap. "So...are you staying in your job?"

Percy nodded. "But I'm getting my own partner, _I'm_ going to be in charge. I'm only going to hunt down homicidal ghouls, just as I would homicidal humans. They promoted me for surviving a situation that Athena didn't."

Will's lips twitched. "Cheater."

"I know."

Sally came back into the room and handed Percy a mug of coffee and a few pills. "Here, Percy."

"Thanks, ma." Percy took the pills before sipping at the coffee. "So, how's Nico and Hazel?"

"Asleep, last time I checked," Will answered. "Nico's still pretty bad off, but he'll be okay. Hazel's healed up."

Percy grinned at him. "So, you love Nico, huh?"

Will's ears turned red. "I forgot I told you that."

Percy laughed. "Oh, this is good. Is he even gay? He doesn't seem like it."

Will blushed worse. "Well, he is. Or...or I'm pretty sure he is. He has an ex boyfriend. But we're not...he doesn't like me like that."

"We'll see about that." Percy kept grinning, unable to stop himself. Teen love. "Wait until he's awake, I'll see if he likes you or not."

Will gaped at him. "But...but..."

"Percy, leave the poor boy alone," Sally cut in. "He's young, he's got time to figure it out."

They went silent. The elephant in the room was that ghouls died so much younger and so much more.

"Thank you for bringing us here," Will whispered. "Thank you for saving us. I...I wanted to be able to save Nico, to protect him. But I failed again."

"No offense, but Nico seems to be a lot stronger of a ghoul than you do," Percy said. "He's SS rated. And you...?"

"Don't even know how to control my styx," Will finished. "But...but I don't want him to die."

"Because you love him."

"Yeah."

Percy messed with his necklace. Flashbacks came to mind. _Train, train, kill!_ "Maybe a ghoul you know can help you figure it out."

Will shrugged. "I have been training. Just not fast enough." He balled his fists. "I have to train more. I'm not letting him get that hurt ever again. I wasn't even able to _heal_ him. I don't know shit. I...I could have at least patched him up, but I don't know shit."

His love was obvious, and Percy couldn't help but be a little jealous of it. 

"Everything will work out, Will," Paul added. "Just be glad you're both safe right now."

"Are we? Safe?"

They looked over to the hallway to find Nico standing there, nothing put pants on, blood-caked skin pale and smooth. His dark eyes were unfocused and full of pain. His hair was matted with sweat and blood.

"We are." Will held his hand out to the other ghoul. "Come here, sit down. You're still healing."

"These are all humans around us. They know we're ghouls."

Will's body turned rigid. "Percy saved us."

"But he knows who we are."

"He's an ally."

Nico turned to stare at Percy. "You work at the CCG."

Percy nodded.

"You hunt down ghouls for a living and you've seen our faces and know our names." Nico's eyes turned red.

Will stepped in front of Nico and grabbed his shoulders. "Nico, Nico, _think_. He just helped us kill his partner because he realized we were in the right. He realized right from wrong. His parents have been harboring ghouls."

"And that means we're supposed to trust him?"

" _Yes!_ "

"Nico," Percy said. "I won't hurt you, Will, or Hazel. I wouldn't dream of it. I...I did all I could do to save a little girl's life. Because that's how I view her, a little girl. Not a ghoul or human. She's just a little girl, and you're just a teenage boy."

Nico blinked. 

Will smiled. "I don't think he ever expected to hear that from you."

Percy shrugged. "Well, it's true. Ghoul, human, it's all the same to me now. Police can hunt down homicidal humans, I can hunt down homicidal ghouls, and that's how it's going to go from now on."

Nico's eyes turned black but he turned to glare at Percy. "One mistake from you, _one mistake_ , and you and your family are dead."

"I'm not going to make a mistake," Percy promised. "And we'll prove you can trust us."

Nico didn't move or speak for a minute or two before taking Will's spot on the couch and bringing his mug of coffee to his lips.

"Now," Sally breathed out. "Let's sit and talk through what you're all planning to do."

* * *

Nico sat with his knees pulled up to his chest and his third mug of coffee pulled close. Will kept an eye on him but he seemed pretty nonviolent, but knowing Nico and his anger spells, he wasn't sure when those black eyes would next turn red.

"We have lives to get back to, we can go back home, but we can't if we're going to be hunted," Nico said.

"You're not going to be hunted," Percy promised. "They don't know your faces and they don't know your names."

"What about Hazel?"

"They don't know hers, either."

"But you do."

"Nico..." Will moved a little closer to him. "He risked everything to save us. I trust him."

"But I don't."

"Well, you already threatened him. There's nothing else to do but go home and rest."

Nico glared into his mug and drank some more.

"Know this as a safe house," Sally said. "Always feel more than welcome to stop by. And Will, come by when you're free. I can teach you some things about ghoul healing. Unfortunately it's not taught like human healing is, but that old teacher I was telling you about helped me learn when I started taking care of hurt ghouls."

Will felt his shoulders relax. "I'd love to learn anything you can teach. Thank you."

"What, want to be a ghoul doctor?" Nico asked.

Will blinked before smiling. "Well...that wouldn't be so bad."


	13. Three Makes a Family

When Nico could walk without Will's support, they finally left the Jackson home and headed back to Big House coffee. They explained the story to Thanatos and Chiron together while Hazel sat with the Stolls in the shop, and as soon as Thanatos heard the end of it, he brought Nico into another room to talk to him privately. Will was left alone with Chiron, those disappointed brown eyes staring into his own.

"You understand what could have been the consequences of your actions, correct?" Chiron asked. "How all three of you could have been killed?"

Will nodded. "We were lucky."

"No one in your position is lucky, Will," Chiron said. His eyes were sad. "The actions of those that have lost their humanity almost killed a child. You did what you needed to do to protect her, and I am proud of you for doing so, but you could have been laying down your life for it. Having walked away would have been seen as sane. But you would have been letting a child die. And that's not something I could see either of you doing."

Will couldn't stop a smile. "Nico...he would have gone through anything to save her. Hell, he'd let them torture him for a lifetime if it meant her getting away."

Chiron studied him. "You've grown very fond of Nico. It's a considerable difference from when you first met."

"Yeah, well...I've changed a lot. I can say I'm a ghoul without having a panic attack, without denying it with everything I have." Will looked at his hands. "I'm still me...just a little different. But I've found Nico and family, and I think I finally found what I'm supposed to do with my life."

"And that is?"

"Be a ghoul doctor. Protect those I love and other ghouls. There's a shortage of them, right?"

"Yes, there very much is. Hazel's father was one of the last."

Will sat forward. "I'm going to do it. I really think that's what I'm supposed to do with my life. I think that's why I ran into Bryce all that time ago, why I was switched. I think I'm supposed to be a ghoul doctor. And Sally, Percy's mom, she's going to teach me about ghoul anatomy and what I'll need to know."

Chiron hummed. "Sally Jackson. I do trust her teaching, but I think I may also be of help to you. Have you decided on your major in college?"

Will shook his head. "Undecided."

"Then I'll offer my input," Chiron said. "I think the best path for you is to study to be any other doctor, so you know the basics in all of us. You can help ghouls while still in college, and once you get a job, they'll know to come to your hospital, ask for you. And when you aren't saving ghoul lives, you can still save human lives. Or you can have your own practice, your own building, have it open to any ghoul that needs it but also open to any human."

Will nodded in acceptance. "I...really like that idea. And you...you said you'd help teach me?"

"Well, as you found out from Sally, I did use to be a teacher," Chiron smiled. "We can have lessons after your shifts. But you and Nico should rest for the weekend, get your bearings. And since you went to save Hazel, not purposely to kill a god, we can forgive that incident."

Will swallowed at the mention of what they did. They killed a god.

"Go," Chiron gestured. "Spend time with Nico and Hazel. Rest up. Monday, we'll start our lessons."

* * *

Will found Nico sitting on his couch, coffee cup in hand, glaring at the writing on it. Hazel was snuggled in his side, reading a new book the Stolls had "bought" for her.

"Nico, are you okay?" Will asked. 

Nico blinked before setting the coffee on the side table. "Fine."

Will hesitated briefly before sitting next to him. "If you don't want to talk about, just say so. Don't lie."

"Fine, I don't want to talk about it," Nico said.

"When you do, I'm here to listen." Will was quiet for a minute before speaking again. "Sally and Chiron are going to teach me ghoul healing methods, and I'm going to go to med school, and I'm going to be a doctor for humans and ghouls."

Hazel perked up from her book. "Like my dad?"

Will glanced at Nico before looking at Hazel. "Is that okay?"

She put her book down before grabbing onto Nico's sleeve, her eyes watering. "I don't want you to get hurt like he did."

"Haz, I'm not going to," Will promised. "I'm going to stay as safe as possible. And Nico here is going to protect me."

"Well, I'm going to have to if you're telling Hazel that," Nico huffed.

Hazel looked up at him. "You'll protect him? Promise?"

Nico stared at Will before moving a strand of hair out of Hazel's face. "I'll protect him. But you tell him not to do anything stupid."

Hazel pointed to Will. "Don't do anything stupid."

Will leaned his head on Nico's shoulder without thinking. Something just felt right about the three of them together. Like they were a family. Like what they had been through had made a bond between them.

"I won't, I promise," he told her. "We're all going to be okay if we stick together."

And that's what it felt like. Sitting in Nico's living area, not being kicked out, not being pushed away, feeling like he _belonged_ there...

It almost made everything they went through worth it. But they had killed. They had been hurt. Their blood still stained that concrete. 

"Nico's going to adopt me," Hazel curled up into Nico's side. "I just wish you could legally be our family, too. You feel like it."

Nico twitched before pulling away from them. "Okay, okay, snuggling is over. Time to get dinner. I'll be back."

"Nico..."

"Just from downstairs, nothing special," Nico assured him. "I'm not going out. Will you make more coffee when I'm gone?"

Will nodded. "Yeah, sure."

Nico took longer than he should have walking to the door and out it. Will could tell something was off, but considering what they had just been through, he wasn't surprised.

"He's been acting funny," Hazel said once Nico was gone. "Is he okay?"

Will nodded. "I'm sure he is. But I'll figure out what's going on for you, okay? But don't worry. He's a ghoul, he's strong, he can heal fast. He'll be fine."

Hazel followed him to the kitchenette and watched as he started a pot of coffee. She had been getting taller, he first noticed. Her hair was longer.

"Do you like birds?" she asked.

"Birds? Well, I guess I do. Never got too close to one," he answered.

"I want one," Hazel declared. "Well, I want a horse but I have nowhere to put it, so I want a bird."

"A bird was your second choice?" he asked.

She nodded. "I like birds."

"Maybe we'll be able to get you one," Will smiled. "You deserve it. What would you name it?"

Hazel grinned. "Arion."

"Arion?"

She nodded. "Yep. Arion. That's what I'd name my horse, too."

"Arion," Will repeated. "Arion the bird. Well, let me talk to Nico, okay? I'm not making any promises but I'll try."

Hazel pulled herself onto the counter and kicked her feet. She seemed to be completely healed, and he himself felt completely healed, but something was off with Nico physically.

And speaking of Nico, the younger boy came stumbling through the door with a bag over his shoulder. He took too long to regain his footing before slamming the door behind him, the bag he was holding dripping blood onto the floorboards. 

"Welcome home!" Will called. 

Nico scowled. "I used to live here alone, you know."

"Well, that's lonely," Hazel dismissed. "It's better with us here."

Nico gave her a tired smile. "It is better with you here, Haz."

Will knew better than to ask 'what about me?'. He was scared of what that answer would be. 

"Are you hungry, Hazel?" Nico asked, unloading the bag onto the counter. Wrapped packages that Chiron once sent home with him soaked the counter in blood.

Hazel's eyes turned red as she turned to face the human meat. "So hungry. But..." She paused. She still was funny about eating in front of other guys, Will guessed.

"Here." Nico seemed to guess what they were all thinking and made Hazel a plate of meat and a cup of coffee. "Go relax in my room. I have to talk to Will alone."

Hazel gratefully took the plate and the excuse and disappeared into Nico's room, leaving the two boys alone. Nico leaned against the counter and picked at the meat, his fingernails blood-stained and his fingers shaking.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on with you?" Will asked. "Hazel's worried, she's noticed it, too."

Nico scowled. "Nothing ever gets passed you, does it?"

"Not when it comes to your health."

Nico gestured to the coffee pot. "Pour me a cup and I'll tell you."

Will did as he was told and set the mug in front of Nico before grabbing himself some of the meat. Being able to just _eat_ without worrying who was around or the lengths they had to go was amazing. They were ghouls. They couldn't run to the store and grab something for dinner, they couldn't eat at a restaurant or park. But here they were, eating without any fear of being seen, having only had to run downstairs to get their food.

Nico took some sips of his coffee before setting the mug back down on the counter. His eyes were unfocused.

"When we were fighting Athena," Nico started. "My head got really banged up. Do you remember?"

Yeah, he remembered. He'd never be able to get the sight of Nico's bloody brains out of his mind. He'd see it as he slept.

"Yeah, I remember," Will breathed. "If you were human, you'd be dead. Hell, you should have died as a ghoul. You were lucky."

"I wouldn't say lucky," Nico grumbled. "I'm not healing. All my life, I always heal. And I heal fast. Because I grew up a ghoul. But my head isn't fucking healing."

Will frowned. "What do you mean?"

Nico touched the back of his head where his hair was still clumped with blood. "My sight hasn't been the same since. It's fuzzy, I feel dizzy, sometimes I can't even walk straight. Yeah, it's normal from an injury like that, but it's _not healing_."

Will gestured to the back of his head. "Can...can I see?"

Nico hesitated before removing his hand and turning so Will could see the back of his head. Will kept his movements gentle but moved Nico's bloody hair to the side, his eyes on the skin as it still came to a fully healed state. But there were no more brains to see. It wasn't bleeding. It looked as good as you could hope for in the situation they were in.

"You need to rest," Will decided. "It _is_ healing, really good in fact, but you need rest. Your sleep deprivation is probably making up most of that. And the rest...well, I'm not sure yet, but we can talk to Chiron and get it figured out."

Nico felt at his head again. "I don't think it's the sleep deprivation."

"You won't know for sure until you actually fully rest," Will replied.

Nico scowled before eating more of the meat. "Fine, if it gets you to shut up, I'll go to bed after I eat. Are you..." He paused. "Are you sleeping here or going back to your place?"

At this point, Will forgot he even had a place. It had been too long since he slept there. Long enough that he thought of that place as his human past.

"Here, if that's okay," Will decided.

Nico nodded. "Couch is open. Besides, I could use some help with Hazel, making sure she stays inside, making sure she doesn't run out and into any more gods."

"I'll do my best," Will promised. "But only if you promise to actually let yourself rest."

A faint blush covered Nico's cheeks. "I'll be able to with you here."


	14. Getting Back to Normal

Will studied with Chiron and Sally about the anatomy of the ghoul body and trained with Thanatos when it came to fighting. It took a month before he could say he had muscles, but that month was nothing more than that when it came to Thanatos's training. Will was far from ever being as powerful as Thanatos or Nico. He might not ever get there. But he could protect them in his own way.

He learned more about styx, about where they came from and why they were different between ghouls. The hereditary side of it. Why he could bet one of Nico's parents had the same set of fiery wings he did.

Then he thought about Nico's parents, where they were, where any of his family was. Why he was all alone, left in Chiron's care. What his story was.

But Nico was always closed off and always tried to be the tough guy. He didn't complain but anyone could see his eyesight wasn't the same. His fear made him check Hazel throughout the night but he never said a word about it.

But Will watched. He listened to the silence. He knew Nico better than he ever thought he could. 

A month. It took a month for him to realize he didn't need to even think about what was his place. Nico had two bedrooms. Nico had a big bed. Hazel has her own room. The factors all came together with some unspoken agreement that they would rest together.

He knew his presence helped Nico sleep. He knew his presence helped Hazel feel better. He knew that Nico's home was slowly becoming his own.

Will brought one bag of clothes over, then two, then some of his father's old books and pictures of his mother. Nico didn't say anything about the acts. He only nodded towards closets or bookshelves where he wanted it stored, didn't say anything when he found Will's toothbrush laying next to his own. When Will finally got ahold of himself and sold the furniture and the house, Nico didn't ask where he got the money from.

But Cecil did. Cecil asked a lot of questions Will didn't know how to answer.

College had once been his whole life, and it wasn't too long ago. But his everyday, human, privileged life was changed the minute he became a ghoul, and then again when he finally accepted it. When he watched Bryce die. When he was attacked by Clarisse, by Dakota, and then Athena... College was suddenly something completely different. It was hard to sit in a classroom after fighting to the death. It was hard to sit there peacefully and not expect to get attacked by a god or ghoul.

But he couldn't tell Cecil that. He wanted to, but he'd never risk his best friend's life. Not after what Nico had promised to do all that time ago.

So he was left going to school, pretending to be someone he wasn't, having to deal with that pain every day. He used to have privilege. Human-privilege, you could call it. Something he hadn't even known existed until it was taken away from him.

Because he changed. His life changed. It changed when he became a ghoul and then changed again when he accepted it. It changed when he met Nico, met Chiron, met Hazel, when he was attacked by Clarisse and Dakota and Athena. When he watched Marie die. When Nico finally killed Athena.

Being a ghoul changed him. He saw the world differently. He _feared_ the world differently. His species was hunted, killed, cast out. If he was found out, he'd be dead. If anyone got a tad bit suspicious, he'd be dead.

It made sitting in a classroom hard. It made acting peaceful hard. He didn't think he had PTSD, but something about sitting in a peaceful setting after going through battles didn't sit right in his stomach. He expected everyone to have a weapon. He expected attacks left and right.

Because ghouls and humans had attacked him. And during school, he was surrounded by the humans, the ones that hated his species the most.

Ghoul on ghoul crime was one thing. It was like human on human, it happened, but he didn't fear all ghouls. But human on ghoul crime was like a genocide, like the Holocaust, like you couldn't trust any of them and the moment you're found out, you're dead.

And he wanted to live. Fuck, did he want to live. So he went to school and sat in those classrooms and ate with Cecil. He pushed his real self down deep inside him and felt the pain of being undone by society.

"So, are you going to get with Nico yet or am I going to have to do it for you?" Cecil asked as they exited the building. "You're over there _all the time_."

"We're friends," Will defended. "I mean...if we...but he hasn't done anything, made no moves, nothing. He's not interested."

"Come on, you don't know that for sure-"

"And he's only seventeen," Will continued. "It's illegal."

Cecil rolled his eyes as he unchained his bike. "Okay, but you like him?"

Will thought of Nico's dark eyes, his beautiful wings, how much he cared about Hazel and how he wasn't afraid to put his life on the line. How he had a friendship with a human. How sad his face was.

"I love him."

"No you don't," Cecil packed the chains up before pulling the bike from the rack. "You have a crush, Will. You don't love him. Not yet, anyway."

"How would you know?"

Cecil gave him a look that voiced all his opinions. "Will, you haven't even kissed him."

"So?"

"You haven't known him for long at all."

"So?"

Cecil shook his head. "You'll know when you actually fall in love. For now, you have a crush. Accept it."

Will felt the blood rush to his face. "If...if this is just a crush... Cecil, you don't understand. That boy is just... _perfect_."

"Have you seen him get a haircut?" Cecil asked.

Will frowned. "Um...no. But what does that have to do-"

"If he gets a haircut and you still like him, it's not just a crush." Cecil hopped on the bike and flipped him off. "Later, Solace."

Will sighed. "Later, Cecil."

* * *

Only when the school started to get suspicious did Nico finally go back. Rachel met him at his locker, her red hair tied up in one of the messiest buns he had ever seen, her eyes green but every bit as angry as a ghoul's.

"Where have you been?" she demanded.

He still couldn't see right. He didn't tell her that.

"Sick, I texted you." Muscle memory got his lock to open but he didn't concentrate on the combination or the books he pulled from his locker. His head was still pounding. Maybe he should've listened to Will and gotten some sleep.

"Sick, my ass."

Nico sighed. "Rach-"

"You weren't sick, you motherfucker-"

"I'm adopting a little girl!"

Rachel's jaw dropped in a way that would have been funny if he didn't feel like he had a hangover.

"What the hell have you been up to?" she asked.

Nico leaned his head against the lockers. "Long story."

"You live with your uncle and the owner of that coffee shop," Rachel said. "Where are you even going to keep her."

"I have more than one bedroom," Nico defended. "And I work. And I'll have help."

"Your uncle?"

Nico nodded. "And Will. And the coffee shop owner. And the Stolls."

"Okay, but who's the girl?" she asked.

"Remember Hazel?"

"Hazel Levesque?" Rachel nodded. "Your uncle's friend's daughter, right?"

"Yeah." Nico took a second to collect his thoughts before continuing. "Her parents were killed by ghouls. I'm not letting her go to an orphanage. As soon as I turn eighteen, I'm adopting her."

"Damn..." Rachel shook her head. "Poor girl. How's she doing?"

Nico shrugged. "Good, I guess, all things considered. She misses them like crazy, though. But Will's really been helping. They get along well."

Rachel smirked. "Oh, really?"

Nico frowned. "What's that look for?"

"Is it like a father-daughter relationship?" she asked.

Nico groaned. "Will and I are not dating! We're just friends!"

He didn't care that heads looked over. Rachel didn't seem to care, either.

"Just friends..." she repeated. "You call raising a little girl together 'just friends'?"

"We're not raising Hazel together!" he hissed.

"You just said he's helping you!"

"He is, but-"

"You don't see me staying at your house helping you raise a child," Rachel said. "That's not just friendship. And you haven't even known him as long as you've known me."

Nico felt his face darken and his mouth open and close a couple times as he tried to think of what to say. But he had never been good at denying a crush to Rachel.

"He...he doesn't like guys like me," Nico finally admitted.

Rachel squealed before pulling him into a hug, making his brain feel like Jell-O. "You do like him! I knew it! I knew it!" She pulled away. "Nico di Angelo, we are getting you that boy."

Nico's cheeks burned red. "Rachel, he's in college."

"You're a senior."

"A young one!"

She rolled her eyes before shutting his locker. "Come on, get to class. We'll start the plan after school."

" _Rachel-"_

"Don't even try to stop me."


End file.
